Peter Schmeichel outlines what Martinez and Dalot did wrong for Arsenal equaliser vs Manchester United

Peter Schmeichel says Lisandro Martinez made a mistake that helped Arsenal find an instant equaliser in Sunday’s 3-1 defeat of Manchester United.

The Reds defender was sucked in by Eddie Nketiah, opening up space behind him to allow Martin Odegaard to crash in an effort from 15 yards amid all-round chaotic defending less than a minute after Marcus Rashford’s 27th-minute opener.

The centre-half was ultimately taken off in the second half with a knock following a bruising tackle on Nketiah that earned him a yellow card. Schmeichel also highlighted Diogo Dalot’s role in the goal.

Dalot was filling in at left-back for a second game running amid injuries to Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia with emergency loan signing Sergio Reguilon remaining on the bench having only arrived on Friday.

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The full-back was stand-offish for Odegaard’s strike, wary of the wide-sitting Bukayo Saka who was lurking ready to pounce on open space. Schmeichel made note of this while highlighting what error both Martinez and the retreating Christian Eriksen made when trying to snuff out the attack.

“I had a coach who always said to me, you are most vulnerable right after you scored,” Schmeichel told Premier League Productions. “You have to focus and concentrate.

“Martinez shouldn’t be running towards what he is doing. He should be running towards where the error is. Eriksen should be running back and covering for him. But he doesn’t. He runs the other way, Martinez, and takes himself out of the game.

“I think Dalot looking a little bit scared of Saka. When defending, a lot of the time, it’s about putting fires out. You put one fire out and don’t think about the next one, until you have to put it out.”