David de Gea admits that he felt “unstoppable” when playing a leading role in Manchester United’s 3-1 victory over Arsenal.
The Spaniard was in inspired form for the Red Devils at Emirates Stadium, with his efforts contributing significantly to a vital win for Jose Mourinho’s side.
Despite having burst out of the blocks to establish a two-goal lead in north London, United spent much of a testing encounter on the back foot.
De Gea was, however, to be beaten on just one occasion, with his 14 saves seeing him match the Premier League record for most stops in a single fixture.
He told MUTV afterwards: “Sometimes, you just start a game with a really good save, with a good feeling, you feel that [unstoppable] but we started the game really well, we scored two important goals and it’s true that we lost a bit of a control of the game after, but it was a good performance.”
Antonio Valencia and Jesse Lingard fired United in front, before Alexandre Lacazette pulled one back for the hosts.
As Arsenal pushed for a leveller, De Gea made a remarkable double stop to deny Lacazette with a save low down to his right, before bouncing back up to block Alexis Sanchez’s rebound with his boot.
Pressed on which of his fine saves was his favourite, De Gea said: “Probably the double save when we were winning 2-1 [in the second half].
"I think that was the most important save but, like I said, the full team defended very well and fought for the three points.”
De Gea also had to react quickly to prevent Romelu Lukaku from putting through his own net at one stage, with the Belgian striker proving that his defensive qualities leave a lot to be desired when finding himself inside the United penalty area.
“Yes, he nearly scored an own goal! But I saved that ball and after that, I think he did a really good job,” added De Gea.
Getty ImagesUnited eventually pulled out of sight as Lingard netted his second of the game, with even a late dismissal for Paul Pogba failing to spoil United’s evening.
“We probably defended better after Paul was sent off,” said De Gea.
“We defended very well, I don’t think they created many chances after that, so the three points stayed with us. It was a brilliant performance from the team, defensively and on the counter attack we killed them, so we’re really happy with the three points.”