Sheffield United 1 Arsenal 0: Lys Mousset strikes as Gunners left stunned

Lys Mousett of Sheffield Utd celebrates scoring. Picture: Simon Bellis/Sportimage

When it comes to their heavy artillery, Arsenal are in a different league to Sheffield United but Chris Wilder’s Blades produced a determination, intensity and quality the Europa League finalists are simply incapable of when the going gets tough away from home.

The deserved reward was the most impressive victory of their latest stint in the Premier League.

With Oli McBurnie limited to a five-minute cameo days after being charged with drink-driving in Leeds city centre, it was left to Lys Mousset to mark his first Premier League start for the South Yorkshire club with the only goal of the game.

The Blades needed a moment of poor finishing, some good refereeing and excellent goalkeeping for Mousset to be the match-winner but it was no less than a rumbustious team performance deserved as the home side soaked up all their more heralded opponents could launch at them while throwing a few punches of their own.

Lys Mousett of Sheffield Utd (partially hidden) scores against Arsenal.

Their football matched the pumped-up atmosphere, taking the game to opponents whose form on the road this season has been as disappointing as the Blades’ return – if not perhaps their form – has been at Bramall Lane.

It took a last-ditch tackle from Matteo Guendouzi to stop the Blades breaking away from a seventh-minute Arsenal corner but most of the early flag kicks were at the Gunners’ end, with left wing-back Enda Stevens a particularly good outlet.

When former Middlesbrough loanee Calum Chambers miscontrolled a simple pass inside the opening quarter of an hour, it showed Arsenal had been rattled by a noisy crowd and the in-your-face performance of the team they were roaring on.