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Manchester United news: Ralf Rangnick slams 'very unlucky' VAR decisions in Arsenal defeat

Manchester United suffered a third defeat in five games on Saturday lunchtime, as Arsenal secured a crucial three points in a 3-1 victory.

Manchester United suffered a 10th defeat of the season on Saturday, and their Champions League qualification hopes seem flattened after Arsenal secured a 3-1 victory at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners took just three minutes to break down United's defence, with Nuno Tavares latching on to David de Gea's spilled save at the back post.

After Eddie Nketiah's goal after 30 minutes was ruled out for offisde, VAR instead handed Arsenal a penalty after they deemed Alex Telles to have fouled Bukayo Saka in the build-up - he then stepped up and converted it.

Cristiano Ronaldo responded with his 100th Premier League goal just two minutes later, but United weren't able to find the equaliser, with Bruno Fernandes hitting the post from the penalty spot in the second half.
As the Red Devils continued to push for an equaliser, Ronaldo had a second strike chalked off for offside, and then Granit Xhaka added a third for Arsenal with 20 mintues to play.

The result lifted Mikel Arteta's side into fourth in the table, while United's chances of qualifying for the Champions League look slimmer than ever, with Ralf Rangnick's side sixth and now six points adrift.

But following full-time, the German insisted that he was pleased with an "improved performance" following United's recent 4-0 drubbing to Liverpool.

"I think we showed an improved performance, but at the end it is a disappointing result. I think we bounced back well after that early goal we conceded, and had numerous chances in the first half and the second to score more goals."
However, with Arsenal benefitting from a number of refereeing decisions throughout the clash, Rangnick did criticise VAR's role in the game.
"For me the only weak side of our performance today was that we didn't defend well inside and around the box. But for me, there were also three very unlucky, let's put it that way, VAR decisions.
"For me the third goal of Arsenal was clearly offside, the second goal of Cristiano was definitely not offside, and there was another handball decision in first half. So we were not very happy with those VAR decisions today.
"If you are 2-1 down and get a penalty, have the chance to come back after being 2-0 down, it would have helped us a lot if that had been the equaliser, and probably changed the whole game. But we didn't. We hit the post. We hit the post twice, plus the crossbar, so as I said, in the end very unlucky for us."
With United now looking to finish the season well before the arrival of Erik ten Hag in the summer, the Red Devils can start preparing for another difficult league clash with Chelsea on Thursday evening.

READ MORE: What are Erik ten Hag's chances of delivering silverware in his first season at Manchester United?

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