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Jose Mourinho praised the impact of two-goal Jesse Lingard after Manchester United's 3-1 Premier League win at Arsenal .
The England midfielder struck United's second after 11 minutes and a second-half third as Arsenal were pushing for an equaliser.
"He played well," United boss Mourinho said. "He did what the team needed him to do, defensively and also in terms of going into finishing areas.
Show all 23 1 /23Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Petr Cech - 6 out of 10 Was far too slow off his line for United's second goal. Did make a fine stop at the second-half to deny Jesse Lingard, however.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Laurent Koscielny - 6 Gave the ball away for United's first goal, immediately before being horribly exposed by Anthony Martial's trickery for the second.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Shkodran Mustafi - 4 Responsible for United's second goal. Taken off immediately after with an injury.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Nacho Monreal - 6 Has to take some responsibility for United's first goal. But made some heroic blocks in the second.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Hector Bellerin - 6 Not the Spaniard's best game, although he was unlucky not to score with a stinging first-half drive which David de Gea saved brilliantly.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Aaron Ramsey - 6 As Gary Lineker tweeted: 'Was that a deliberate pass back to Alexandre Lacazette or an awful first touch from Ramsey?' Either way, he was responsible for Arsenal's outstanding first goal.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Granit Xhaka - 6 Came off second best in a number of duels with Paul Pogba but no player on the pitch made more tackles than Xhaka, who was kept busy throughout.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Sead Kolasinac - 7 Worked exceptionally hard as ever and, like Bellerin, was very unlucky not to score wit ha stinging drive.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Mesut Ozil - 7 Another good game from the German and linked with Alexis Sanchez and Alexandre Lacazette very well.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Alexis Sanchez - 7 A tireless performance. Would have scored if not for a stunning double save from David de Gea. His pass to Aaron Ramsey for Arsenal's goal was a thing of beauty.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Alexandre Lacazette - 6 Pulled back a goal for Arsenal but had so many more chances, and should really have scored at least once more for the home team.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings David De Gea - 9 An outstanding performance - one of his finest in a Manchester United jersey. Made a series of incredible saves. There is no finer goalkeeper in the Premier League, perhaps even the world. MOTM.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Victor Lindelof - 7 Another encouraging performance from the young defender.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Chris Smalling - 7 Repeatedly put his body on the line and led the United backline well.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Marcos Rojo - 7 Could have done better for Arsenal's goal, as Lacazette ghosted past him and through on target. But defended heroically at times and made no fewer than 10 clearances.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Antonio Valencia - 7 Took his goal very well and was a threat going forward. A fine performance.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Paul Pogba - 8 Completely dominated Xhaka in the middle of the park. Linked up exceptionally well with both Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial. But then undid that hard work with a dangerous, reckless and stupid tackle on Hector Bellerin, for which he was correctly dismissed.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Nemanja Matic - 8 A brave, bruising performance. Did most of the dirty work in the middle of the pitch, allowing Paul Pogba to roam forward and join in the attack.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Ashley Young - 8 Enjoying a quite remarkable purple patch. Strong going forward, composed in defence and even headed a deft Ozil free-kick off the line.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Jesse Lingard - 9 Took both of his goals very well and was a buzzing nuisance throughout. Could even have had a hat-trick but shot into Petr Cech's body at the start of the second-half.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Romelu Lukaku - 8 He didn't score, but he still had a fine game and his muscular presence up-front laid the foundations for Jesse Lingard's success. Made the second goal, winning the ball and playing in Martial with an inch-perfect through-ball.
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Arsenal vs Manchester United: Player ratings Anthony Martial - 8 His flick for United's second goal was a thing of beauty. Continues to get better with every game.
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"We worked pre-season well and hard about playing sometimes with three at the back, sometimes four.
"When we play with two strikers we need people from the midfield that can arrive in finishing situations and that's what Jesse did for us."
Greater responsibility may fall on Lingard in the coming weeks when Paul Pogba will be suspended for second-placed United.
A straight red card shown to Pogba for a studs-up challenge on Hector Bellerin will see the France midfielder miss next Sunday's Manchester derby, plus the Premier League fixtures with Bournemouth and West Brom.
Pogba is likely to feature on Tuesday night when United will seek to secure their place in the Champions League knockout stages against CSKA Moscow.
Arsenal are in Europa League action on Thursday against Belarus' BATE Borisov before playing at Southampton next Sunday.
The defeat ended a 12-game winning run at home in the league and was the Gunners' fifth in 15 league games this season.
The loss was largely self-inflicted as mistakes from Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi proved costly in the opening 11 minutes before David De Gea made a series of fine saves to frustrate the hosts.
Mourinho was impressed with Lingard's performance in north London (Getty) Goalkeeper Petr Cech said on arsenal.com: "The game was decided at the start with our two mistakes and they scored.
"We need to make sure that when we create chances in a big game we score and don't make mistakes.
"There are not many times you play United and you dominate the whole game, having so many chances, so this is positive, but we are disappointed.
"We played against Huddersfield and we were on the other side of it (winning 5-0 last Wednesday).
"We had a spell where we had four shots and everything went in, this time it was the opposite."
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