Arsenal's week from hell leaves Mikel Arteta feeling the heat: Winners and losers as Gunners suffer FA Cup penalty heartbreak while Ruben Amorim's Man Utd again show improvements with Altay Bayindir the hero

This was the day Bayindir's decision to join Manchester United was finally vindicated. Before Sunday, he had had a miserable time since switching from Fenerbahce, playing just one game last season - at Newport County - and that was only because Andre Onana was on international duty with Cameroon. He is still yet to play a Premier League game in 18 months at the club and might have thought his season had ended with his embarrassing display at Tottenham as United exited the Carabao Cup in December.

Amorim, however, gave Bayindir a second chance by making him first choice in the FA Cup, and he was vindicated. It should be said that Bayindir got off to a rocky start in his second trip to north London of the season, misplacing three kicks in the first half and then failing to properly clear Gabriel Martinelli's cross in the build-up to Gabriel Magalhaes' equaliser. But he came into his own when United conceded the penalty, as while Odegaard's spot-kick was by no means a bad one and looked to be heading towards the bottom corner, Bayindir put his huge 1.98m-frame (8cm more than Onana) to good use, flying across the goal to turn the shot away.

The save gave rocket boosters to his confidence and he made two excellent saves from Declan Rice before again working his magic from penalties in the shootout, covering the goal superbly to frustrate Havertz. The goalkeeper also gave an exemplary post-match interview which will have only endeared him more to United fans, saying, "Even if you are not playing you have to be ready at every second if you are a Manchester United player." He sure was

It feels like Arsenal's promising season has unravelled in the space of eight days. The Gunners began 2025 by beating Brentford and recording a ninth win in 11 matches, but since then they have suffered three awful results, each with huge ramifications for their trophy prospects.

First they surrendered the advantage to draw 1-1 at Brighton in the Premier League, a result which must have felt extra frustrating a day later when Liverpool failed to beat United, meaning the Gunners remained six points behind Arne Slot's side having played one game more. Arsenal, however, only had faint hopes of winning the Premier League title before the disappointing result at the Amex Stadium due to Liverpool's relentless run of results, so their best hopes of winning a trophy for the first time since 2020 lay in the domestic cups. Now, though, all hope is practically gone.

They face a mountain of a task in overturning the 2-0 deficit to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup semi-finals, and now they are out of the FA Cup in the third round for the third year out of five, while they have not gone beyond the fourth round since their 2020 triumph.

Arteta still has huge respect among Arsenal fans for the way he has transformed the club over the course of his five-year tenure, but the lack of trophies is beginning to become a problem for him, and that has only got bigger in the last week. Arsenal's best chance of silverware now looks to be in the Champions League, which they have never won and not gone beyond the quarter-finals in since 2009.

Many were expecting Amorim to make more unwanted history for consecutive United losses as they saw trips to Liverpool and Arsenal on the fixture list after a run of four defeats in a row. Instead, the Portuguese has proven his technical nous by demonstrating a knack for getting results at the toughest places.

Just like at Anfield, Amorim was pragmatic with his approach, and although he did not stray from his beloved 3-4-3 formation, he showed tactical flexibility in a different way, setting his team up to frustrate their opponents. United gave Arsenal very few opportunities to score while both sides had 11 men on the pitch, while they posed them questions on the counter-attack and grew into the game. It was no great surprise when Bruno Fernandes gave them the lead.

What was surprising was that United did not cave in at the first sign of a setback, and Amorim's players ran their hearts out for another hour despite being a man down following Dalot's red card against one of the toughest and fittest teams in Europe.

Amorim also showed his human touch by giving Bayindir an opportunity and by not only throwing on Zirkzee, but trusting him to take the crucial fifth penalty in the shootout.

Long before the January transfer window opened, there was a clamour for Arsenal to sign a striker, and Sunday's events made that case even stronger - albeit for different reasons.

First, Gabriel Jesus succumbed to a worrying injury which looks as though it could end his season. The Brazilian first went down clutching his knee after being hit in the face by Lisandro Martinez, but he remained on the pitch for another 10 minutes, only to go down in pain for a second time after challenging Fernandes for the ball.

Arteta said of Jesus: "Big worry. That’s my feeling. To come off with a stretcher in a lot of pain, touching his knee. It’s not looking good. It's the other one [after the 2022 World Cup]. It’s the feeling he had, he had to come off."

Another injury was the last thing the coach needed after losing Bukayo Saka for several months to a torn hamstring and Ethan Nwaneri for several weeks due to a muscular problem. Arsenal are also missing Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu due to knee injuries, and there was fresh concern for Riccardo Calafiori when he was left out of Sunday's squad due to a muscle problem.

And even if Jesus' injury was not enough reason for Arsenal fans to demand a new striker, then the performance of Havertz certainly was. The German missed two complete sitters in the second half, first missing the target from less than 10 yards out and then spooning over from inside the six-yard box. That makes it three glaring misses for Havertz in a week after also spurning a free header against Newcastle. To make matters worse for the £60m ($73m)-man, he was the only Arsenal player to fail to score from the spot in the shootout on an afternoon to forget.

It takes a brave player to step up and take the final penalty for his team in a shootout, especially when the very same player had been substituted by his manager after 33 minutes less than two weeks previously against Newcastle and heard his own supporters cheer the decision.

Zirkzee's confidence still appeared to be low last week at Anfield when he chose to pass to Harry Maguire rather than go for goal in added time, and there appeared to be many better picks than the Dutchman - who has been linked with an early move away from the club - to take the crucial spot-kick. But the striker, rather like compatriot Wout Weghorst in the FA Cup semi-final shootout against Brighton two years ago, blocked out the noise and expertly dispatched his penalty, sparking wild celebrations in the away end.

Odegaard had a previously flawless record from the spot, but it was fifth-time unlucky when he faced down Bayindir. The Arsenal captain was denied by an admittedly impressive save, and although Havertz will understandably be painted as Arsenal's main scapegoat, Odegaard has to take responsibility for his miss.

Arsenal had been frustrated for the opening hour, but Dalot's red card and Gabriel's goal gave them all the momentum. Odegaard was then presented with the perfect opportunity to complete the turnaround and send United, who had put all their eggs in the basket of defending even when they had 11 men on the pitch, on their way. He couldn't take it.

Garnacho must have been dismayed this week to read reports that United are willing to sell him in order to alleviate their financial pressures, especially after setting up the equaliser at Anfield just days earlier. Garnacho would have had every right to have been distracted by those reports, as well as those out of Italy which claim that Napoli are now interested in signing him.

But he put the speculation to one side and gave a brilliant and intelligent performance on Sunday, showing that he has the talent and attitude to succeed at United. Garnacho was the team's main threat in a cautious first half, and in the second he sparked the opening goal by chasing down Gabriel, stretching Arsenal's defence with his pace and then playing the perfect pass for Fernandes. Garnacho then dug in with extra defensive work after Dalot's red card before eventually being taken off for Amad.

Garnacho might rub some people up the wrong way and he definitely has to improve in a lot of areas, but this was another demonstration that United would be mad to sell him.

If Bayindir had not had the game of his life, then Dalot would have been the culprit for United heading out of the FA Cup. Everything was in the visitors' favour until he dived in on Mikel Merino and got a deserved second yellow card, leaving his team a man short for the remaining half an hour of normal time and then an extra 30 minutes of extra-time.

Both yellow cards were for diving in and not getting the ball. The Portuguese could just be forgiven for the first foul on Martin Lewis-Skelly as it was in the final third, but he had no excuses when he slid in on Merino as the Spaniard was not far from the halfway line and there was little sense of danger.

Dalot's moment of madness came just a week after an excellent display at Anfield, for which he had received glowing praise from Alan Shearer, and he owes Bayindir a pint - or a cup of Turkish tea at the very least.