MANCHESTER UNITED fans were left furious and baffled in equal measure by David de Gea’s decision late on against Arsenal.
The Red Devils travelled to North London knowing that a win would narrow the gap at the top to five points.
But with the score level at 2-2 late on, Gunners striker Eddie Nketiah broke their hearts with a last-gasp winner.
After Lisandro Martinez’s 59th-minute equaliser, United had been getting increasingly penned back.
And their experienced goalkeeper missed a great chance to relieve some pressure with the clock starting to tick down.
After Bruno Fernandes made a crucial intervention from a cross, the ball looped up into the air.
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It looked as if it would be a straightforward catch for De Gea, who had no Arsenal player challenging him.
Bafflingly, however, De Gea opted to punch the ball, when he could have caught it and used up some valuable seconds.
Instead, Fernandes again had to scramble after the ball when his keeper’s punch failed to travel far from trouble.
The moment infuriated many United fans online.
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One tweeted: “If I repeated what I said when he did that my account would be suspended.”
While a second wrote: “This rattled me to my core…”
A third commented: “I could not believe my eyes when this happened.”
And a fourth pointed out: “Varane is there with his arms out making sure no one gets close and our goalkeeper can gather, and he does that…”
Another added: “P***ed me right off that did. Catch the damn ball.”
United’s defeat saw them fall 11 points behind top spot.
De Gea, 32, is set to be out of contract at the end of the season.
Last week, SunSport revealed he would be willing to take a pay cut on his £375,000-a-week wages to stay at Old Trafford.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
