Neville identifies Arteta's 'strange' decision that cost Arsenal vs Manchester United

Gary Neville believes a decision by Mikel Arteta cost Arsenal in their 3-1 loss to Man Utd on Sunday.

Bukayo Saka earned a deserved 60th-minute equalizer to cancel out an early Antony goal, but Marcus Rashford hit Arsenal twice on the break to kill the game for United.

Arteta decided to introduce Emile Smith Rowe, Eddie Nketiah and Fabio Vieira for Martin Odegaard, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Sambi Lokonga when Man Utd won 2-1, but Neville believes those changes cost them a chance to return the game.< /p>

Arsenal are mentally weak and naive - they lost the plot as always at Old Trafford

Neville said on Sky Sports: "They were fantastic for 70 minutes, but a bit immature in the last 20 minutes.

"I think the substitutions, the three changes, I thought it was weird because I thought it was a bit of a kitchen sink job where you could go and finish the counter attack that they did.

"I don't think they needed to do that at this point in the game, there were still 20 minutes left, they were playing really well.

"They were creating chances and Manchester United's goal on the counter was against the run of play.

"All of a sudden it was an easier game for Manchester United than Arsenal with those substitutes.

"It might be a strange thing to say when they're down 3-1, but I feel more confident in Arsenal's best four chances after today than in the previous four or five games.

"They were really good and they will get the other part of their game more often than not."

Rio Ferdinand has defended William Saliba for his role in Man Utd's opening goal and instead blamed the gate for Arsenal summer signing Zinchenko.

"The ball was played forward and Gabriel jumps, that's the first mistake. He goes to the ground, which leaves them all in the sea at the back, they are everywhere, "said Ferdinand on his channel Vibe with Five YouTube.

"I don't think Saliba was too far out of position with Rashford. As a defender, he tells Rashford that you have to beat me and then score. The biggest mistake for me personally was Zinchenko not coming in step and win the ball and don't block Rashford. If you go all the way, he has to win the ball.

"I would have preferred the left-back to say that if he beats me, I will cover for you. If I was Saliba, I would have been happy with what I had done, but I would have been unhappy of what Zinchenko did."