‘It’s a sickener… but the performance was there’

Arsène Wenger cut a frustrated figure after watching his young side go down to a late Manchester United winner at Old Trafford.

A side showing eight changes from Thursday's 1-1 draw with Atletico almost recorded the same scoreline on Sunday afternoon, until Marouane Fellaini's late, late header.

It was tough to take for the boss, on his last trip to Old Trafford as our manager, though he was able to take plenty of encouragement from the performance.

"It's a sickener but overall I believe the positive performance was there, and some players stood up to the level that was requested and showed a big quality," he told Arsenal Player after the game.

"I would say our central defence has done well. Mavropanos, who nobody knew before, has done well. Maitland-Niles has done well too. Of course we know the experienced players who played, but Iwobi did well in the first half too, and tired in the second half. Overall these are all players who have shown great qualities."

Before the game the manager was presented with a commemorative trophy by former adversary Sir Alex Ferguson, to mark his final trip to Manchester.

"It was the first time I had got a trophy before the game," he smiled afterwards. "It's the end of a long, long story. I would like to thank Manchester United for the gesture they made. They will certainly be competing with Arsenal in the future again, and I will be following that with attention, and hopefully Arsenal come here next season and win."