In having done the bare minimum here, Arsenal have so far done all they can in the title race. It was not pretty, but it will now mean potential drama on the last day. That’s at least what Mikel Arteta’s side have taken the title race to, with this grind of a 1-0 victory over Manchester United now meaning Manchester City have to win at Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday. That game and the final week is now abound with complicated storylines, which is why Arteta had to keep it as simple as possible.

The relief could be felt when David Raya caught a late cross by Alejandro Garnacho. Arsenal had not exactly been firing, and it said much the only goal came through Casemiro’s laxness rather than any lightning play. That doesn’t matter at this point. Leandro Trossard was there again, and Arsenal are there on the final day. It was just about getting through. If Arsenal didn’t look at their best, mind, the reality was United never looked like scoring. They just didn’t have it in them, despite a broader improvement in performance.

You could draw all sorts of metaphors from the way a diluvian rainstorm started the second the game finished, as United trudged off.

Manchester United’s last title challenge came 11 years and five managers and an interim appointment ago. And yet they could have had their greatest impact in the destination of the trophy since the days when Sir Alex Ferguson prowled the technical area, fingers tapping his watch. They had already ended one title tilt; Arsenal ensured they did not strike down both of Manchester City’s rivals to anoint their neighbours as champions.

Still more than the four points United denied Liverpool, the psychological blow of failing to beat such a terrible team – despite 87 shots in three games – was too much even for Jurgen Klopp’s mentality monsters. They exited the title race in embarrassment, reeling in incomprehension. Arsenal created fewer chances at Old Trafford and emerged with more points; in recent weeks 4-3 has been a more familiar outcome in United matches than 1-0 so there was an old-fashioned element to the scoreline.

Wayne Rooney has accused some of Manchester United’s supposedly injured players of ducking out of games for the struggling side to save themselves for the FA Cup final or Euro 2024.

United lost 1-0 to Arsenal, their second successive defeat and 19th loss of a sorry season, and their record goalscorer and former captain Rooney believes some of their injured contingent are actually fit to feature but are saving themselves.

And he accused them of letting the club down by opting out of games, saying: “There are some very good players in that squad and the performances are way below par. You look at the injuries and some of those players could play; 100 percent.

“You have a European Championships coming up and an FA Cup final coming up. It is easy for players to stay out for a little bit and then come back towards the European Championships. I have seen it myself over the years. I just think the players who have been injured are not filling themselves with any credit at the minute.”

“I questioned Manchester City four or five weeks ago, thinking to myself that I’m not quite sure they can do it. But in the last few weeks I don’t know why I even doubted them.

“The quality and strength in their squad, players off the bench are world class, a world class manager in Pep, everything. They are just a machine.

“Even yesterday away to Fulham, far from an easy game and they win by four goals. You just can’t see them being stopped now.”

“We needed a result today in a really difficult place. Our history was not in favour of a result today, there was so much at stake and we’re happy with the result.

“We started the game really well and were dominant. We scored the goal and I think the goal led to slightly bad things because we started to play too safe, too sideways, too backwards with not enough structure.

“We started to give the ball away in good areas and that is a danger against them. But we defended well and didn’t concede too much.”

“I think Arsenal will be thinking how lucky they were to play such a poor Manchester United team today.

“The end product, the lack of quality, the decision making, people making mistakes and not putting demands on each other.

“No one digging each other out for mistakes. That United team out there today, particularly in the last half an hour, were so bad.”

“We had only one chance today and it went in. Maybe it wasn’t the prettiest one but we stuck together, we defended well and it was a good win for us. We did what we had to do.

“We were looking for the second goal and we knew it was going to be a tough second half if it didn’t come, especially here with the atmosphere. They’re still a good team and they can hurt you in different ways.

“Credit to the boys, we defended very well and it’s a good win.”

“Very important to play, here is always tough. We prepared well, it wasn’t our best game but we needed the three points and we [got them].”

“It feels nice, we have to win every game and it’s nice to be in the title race and to have to play your best to win.”

On Manchester City’s upcoming game against Tottenham: “I am going to be the biggest fan of Tottenham ever!”

“I think it was about getting over the line for Arsenal. They will never have an easier game than that, they didn’t play well at all, and never really got out of second gear.

“I didn’t think Arsenal controlled the game at all. Man United had enough of the ball around the box and if they had the final ball, perhaps if the decision-making was better they would have had a chance.

“It was one of those that if United had scored it wasn’t like Arsenal were looking like they would score again. It is a good win. They did a job today.”

Mikel Arteta’s side went ahead in the first half when Leandro Trossard turned home Kai Havertz’s cross but were not at their fluent best against Erik ten Hag’s out-of-form side.

Still, a resolute defensive display – typified by William Saliba’s man-of-the-match performance – means they return to the league’s summit ahead of Manchester City’s midweek fixture against Tottenham.

Here is how the players rated: