Antonio Valencia opened the scoring and Jesse Lingard bagged a brace as Jose Mourinho's side triumphed at the Emirates
MANCHESTER UNITED battled recklessly for 90 minutes to secure a 3-1 victory against Arsenal.
Alexandre Lacazette gave Arsenal a lifeline in the second half after two early goals from United, before Lingard scored his second to put the game to bed.
The Spanish shot-stopper denied Arsenal on several occasions with a catalogue of world class saves.
Romelu Lukaku came close to knocking the ball into his own net in the first half, but De Gea leaped across his goal and parried the ball out.
Just minutes into the second half, he denied Alexandre Lacazette from close range before spectacularly saving the rebound from Alexis Sanchez.
Arsenal's defence struggled to cope with a catalogue of counter attacks from the visitors.
Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba were commonly left in acres of space, allowing him to push forward and deliver balls into target man Lukaku.
It was a similar story for United's third goal, with Arsenal looking unorganised defensively as Pogba pressed up the pitch before assisting Lingard.
Arsenal got off to a nightmare start after Laurent Koscielny sloppily gave the ball away to Antonio Valencia.
Just seven minutes later, an error from Shkodran Mustafi gifted Lukaku the ball, before Lingard buried the second.
Koscielny was at fault for the third goal, with Pogba skipping past him effortlessly before feeding Lingard.
Alexandre Lacazette was expected to miss the huge crunch clash after being forced off the field against Huddersfield with a groin injury.
But Gunners fans were overwhelmed with happiness when they saw the French talisman named in Arsene Wenger's line-up.
Just moments into the second half, the striker pulled one back for the home side.
When two of the top-flights biggest clubs combine, fans are sometimes left underwhelmed... but not today.
From the first whistle, the two sides instantly locked horns and the atmosphere was electric.
The fans certainly got their money's worth at the Emirates, with action at both ends until the dying stages.
