Man United 0-1 Arsenal, Premier League: Red Devils Have The Squad To Beat Any EPL Side, Says Amorim

Ruben Amorim is confident that his Manchester United players have the ability to beat any team in the Premier League despite losing to Arsenal on Sunday. 

United were beaten 1-0 by the Gunners at Old Trafford, with Riccardo Calafiori's 13th-minute header handing them a defeat in their first league match of 2025-26. 

The Red Devils have now lost their opening Premier League home game in three of the last six seasons (W3), with the result also adding another defeat to Amorim's tally.

Indeed, Amorim suffered his 15th loss in what was his 28th Premier League game as United's boss (W7 D6), the fastest a manager has reached 15 defeats in the competition without taking charge of a newly promoted team in that period. 

There were positives for United, though, with new signings Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha providing a threat throughout in the final third. 

And while Amorim was disappointed at the result, he argued that the Red Devils were unfortunate to be on the wrong side of the scoreline.

"We have players to win any game in the Premier League," Amorim told Sky Sports. "We need to focus and forget about the noise.

"We are fighting for the places, that is a good thing, but we are playing as a team, it doesn't matter who is playing, we want to win games.

"I'm really proud of the guys. They were really brave in everything they did during the game," Amorim told Sky Sports. Congratulations for the performance.

"We deserved a different result and we need to move forward to the next one. We were more aggressive than last year.

"We went one against one all the game and we pressed high. We had quality with the ball. Even when the stadium made some sounds, we continued to play the way we play.

"You always feel in the game they can do something, not just with the ball but without the ball. I am proud of the game we played. We lost and have things to work on.

"We need to win games, but that was completely different to last season."

United had their chances, generating an expected goals (xG) total of 1.59 from 22 shots to Arsenal's 1.05 from the Gunners' nine attempts at Altay Bayindir's goal. 

The Red Devils' tally of shots was their most in a Premier League match against Arsenal since their 8-2 triumph over them in August 2011 (25). 

But the decisive moment in the contest came when Bayindir failed to deal with Declan Rice's teasing corner, allowing Calafiori to nod the ball home on the line. 

Since the start of the 2023-24 campaign, no team has conceded more goals from corners than United (23) in the top-flight, and their vulnerability this time out left Amorim frustrated, even if he felt his goalkeeper had been fouled.

"Sometimes it happened last year. It's not playing the ball," Amorim said. 

"Sometimes you are pushing and you don't have more hands to go for the ball. We need to be stronger.

"We are not changing the rules, we have to adapt to the rules. Today I think we are the better team.

"We have players to win any game of the Premier League. We need to focus and forget about the noise. It doesn't matter who is playing, we want to win games."