Whilst Mikel Arteta has seen the Gunners come close in terms of getting themselves across the line to a first English top-flight title since the Invincible season of 2003/04, the Red Devils have lurched from one disaster to the next.
Ruben Amorim's recent declaration that his side were the worst in Man United's history certainly claimed the column inches immediately afterwards, but the comment wasn't without merit, and one only needs to look at the facts to understand that.
14th in the Premier League table after 28 games, just nine wins, seven draws and 12 defeats, with a paltry 34 goals scored - only Everton, West Ham, Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton have less - and 40 conceded.
Currently on 34 points, they are 10 away from eighth position in the table, which is the previous worst final Premier League position for the club since 1992/93, and which came last season under Erik ten Hag.
Despite such a poor run of form, only Arsenal's David Raya stood in their way of claiming a morale-boosting victory in Sunday afternoon's fixture.
The Spaniard has to take the blame for getting nowhere near Bruno Fernandes' well-placed free-kick, stationed as he was too near to his right-hand post and allowing the Portuguese more than enough room to fire a pinpoint dead ball into the back of the net.
A second direct free-kick of the season from Fernandes meant that for the first time since Wayne Rooney and Juan Mata in 2013/14, a United player had scored more than one direct free-kick in a season and it was also United's first shot on target and the spark that the game needed at just the right time.
As the second-half began, little did we know how important Raya would become for the visitors in a 45 minutes that was a much more combative and exciting affair, as might befit these two Premier League behemoths.
By the end of the game, he'd made five saves, the first time he has made at least that many in a match in the Premier League since facing Crystal Palace on 21st December 2024 (also five).
Though Arteta is likely to be disappointed that his side again dropped points in a match, things might've been so much worse had either Noussair Mazraoui's volley, Joshua Zirkzee's cheeky backheel or Bruno's late effort gone in.
That they didn't was purely down to Raya's reflexes and alertness in goal, particularly when you consider that after he saved Bruno's shot, he had the presence of mind to get straight up as the ball span towards goal and claw it away.
An 83.3% save percentage in the match is up there with his best performances of the season in that regard, with this figure rising to 100% if we only take into account the saves he made from shots inside his area.
One has to also take a broader view of just how important Raya's saves were in the context of the match.
The aforementioned stops were arguably of higher difficulty and quality than the shots at goal faced by Andre Onana, though he too would be called upon to make five saves in the game, the most in a Premier League match for the Cameroonian since facing Everton on February 22nd (six saves).
Arsenal knocked the ball around well in the central areas as might be expected, but huffed and puffed - again - in front of goal. Had any of the big chances from United gone in, it's entirely possible that they would've gone on and won the game from that point.
To that end, you could argue it's a point gained rather than another two lost, albeit Arteta does have questions to answer as to why his squad have dropped off the title pace so significantly of late.
In any event, 18 of Raya's total of 26 passes found their target at the 'Theatre of Dreams' and whilst his pass accuracy of 69.2% - only marginally lower than his 71.1% for the 2024/25 season - was the lowest from an Arsenal perspective, compared to Andre Onana's 37.5%, it's night and day.
It's also a slightly misleading statistic because as we know, Arteta prefers Raya to play to feet in his own half rather than pumping the ball long. The below graphic shows that all of the passes that weren't completed on the day were actually those longer balls, clearly an area he needs to work on.
Drilling down further into the data, we find that 519 of the 550 passes made in his own half this season have found their target, leading to a much healthier pass accuracy statistic of 94.4%.
That's the fourth best in the team for players making passes in their own half, and from a team that are renowned for their short, sharp and accurate passing.
The Spaniard was also a constant instructing presence behind his defence, moving them up the pitch when needed, and berating them if they were dropping too far back.
To the average spectator that may seem to be an entirely unimportant action but being vocal is often overlooked. It's a vital part of a goalkeeper's armoury and something that doesn't come naturally to a lot of players or custodians.
Although Arsenal had as many shots on target across the 90 minutes as United (six), the Gunners 34 touches in the opposition box were exactly double that of the hosts (17), indicating that Amorim's side were more dangerous with their forays into the heart of opposition territory.
Both sides will undoubtedly have seen this fixture as an opportunity missed too.
Arsenal from the point of view of making things a little bit more interesting in this season's title race, and United because they've only won five of the 13 times they’ve hosted the north Londoners across all competitions (D5 L3) since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
As if to underscore the point, whilst the Scot was still at the helm at Old Trafford he managed to win all of his last five home games against Arsenal (between 2009 and 2012).
How both sets of fans would love a return to the days of Keane and Vieira et al...
