Arsenal 1-1 Manchester United (aet, 4-5 pens): Brilliant Bayindir the shoot-out hero

Altay Bayindir was the hero as 10-man Manchester United dumped rivals Arsenal out of the FA Cup, winning 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out after an eventful 1-1 draw.

Replacing the rested Andre Onana, Bayindir saved from Kai Havertz in the shoot-out, having also repelled a Martin Odegaard penalty to ensure United made it to extra-time.

Having led through Bruno Fernandes, Ruben Amorim’s visitors were forced to dig deep in the second half, with Gabriel Magalhaes equalising after Diogo Dalot was sent off for two bookable offences.

While Havertz fluffed his lines from 12 yards, United produced five perfect penalties to progress, dealing another huge blow to Arsenal’s hopes of silverware this season.

The sweetest of feelings #MUFC || #FACup pic.twitter.com/A3HTmcbDAF

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 12, 2025

Arsenal thought they had an 18th-minute lead when Gabriel Martinelli raced through to slot into the bottom-right corner, but the Brazilian was clearly offside and the goal was correctly disallowed despite Gabriel Jesus’ pass deflecting into his path off Harry Maguire.

The Gunners saw Jesus carried off on a stretcher late in the first half, and they suffered another blow shortly after the restart as United struck on the break, Fernandes sweeping into the top-right corner after being teed up by Alejandro Garnacho.

However, Dalot received a second booking for scything Mikel Merino down nine minutes later, and Arsenal swiftly levelled when Gabriel swivelled to find the bottom-right corner.

Arsenal had a golden opportunity to go 2-1 up in the 70th minute. Havertz went down softly under the challenge of Harry Maguire, and United might have felt justice was done when Bayindir sprung to his left to save Odegaard’s spot-kick.

The brilliant Bayindir twice denied Declan Rice and Havertz somehow prodded over from two yards out, as United dug in to force an extra 30 minutes, which passed without too many clear-cut chances.

Bayindir produced another huge moment in the shoot-out, tipping Havertz’s kick around his left post to tee up Joshua Zirkzee for the winning penalty.

Cool. Calm. Collected.

Joshua Zirkzee fires @ManUtd into the #EmiratesFACup fourth round! pic.twitter.com/0pOrgQHmQn

— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) January 12, 2025

Data Debrief: United avenge 2005 defeat

Only Everton and Liverpool (19 ties) have faced off in more different FA Cup ties than Arsenal and United, who did battle for the 16th time in the competition on Sunday.

The last time the two rivals went to penalties in the competition was in the 2005 final, when Arsene Wenger’s Gunners held their nerve to beat Alex Ferguson’s United.

Bayindir was the hero with six saves, twice as many as David Raya managed between the sticks at the other end.

United were helped by some poor finishing from the hosts, though, with Havertz missing chances worth 0.8 expected goals (xG) in the 90 minutes, then failing to convert from the spot.