Tony Adams took a swipe at ’s Cedric Soares after the Gunners beat at the Emirates, admitting the defender ‘scares the life out of me’.
Mikel Arteta’s side took a big step to qualifying for next season’s as they defeated top-four rivals United 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.
It threatened to be a straightforward win for Arsenal who went 2-0 up in the first half through Nuno Tavares and Bukayo Saka.
But ’s 100th Premier League goal halved the deficit before the break and United pressed for an equaliser after the interval.
Bruno Fernandes missed a penalty, Ronaldo had a goal disallowed for offside and Diogo Dalot hit the post before Granit Xhaka settled the affair with a superb strike on 70 minutes.
In another boost to Arsenal, full-back Takehiro Tomiyasu marked his return from a three-month injury lay-off when he came on as a late sub.
Tomiyasu’s absence has seen former Southampton defender Cedric become a mainstay in Arsenal’s team but Gunners legend Adams still has his doubts over the 30-year-old, who was fortunate not to concede a penalty in the win over Manchester United.
‘It could be a north London shootout now,’ former Gunners captain Adams said on Premier League production in reference to the top-four race.
‘Spurs have got Liverpool away and Arsenal coming up, those are going to be the two pivotal games I think in the top-four race.
‘It’s been a great comeback for Arsenal after those three defeats. We’ve had a few injuries too.
‘Tomi came back right at the end there which is great because I’m still scared about Cedric. He scares the life out of me so it’s good to see Tomi back in action.
‘If we can get him back and get solid defensively, I think we’ve got fourth.’
Arteta, meanwhile, hailed Arsenal’s ‘big performance’ as they built on Wednesday’s 4-2 win over Chelsea to clinch three more points against struggling United.
‘A big performance in a game I think had everything,’ Arteta said.
‘Moments where we showed real quality, a game where we had to suffer, a game where there were moments where we were a bit lost and lacking energy, a game where we were really efficient in the boxes, a game where we had luck when we needed it. Overall I am extremely happy.’
On the top-four battle, with Arsenal now up to fourth above Spurs ahead of their game later in the day, Arteta added: ‘I said this is going to be a rollercoaster.
‘The winning and losing in this league is small margins. Today things went our way and we are really happy.’
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