MIKEL ARTETA was given plenty of food for thought as his Arsenal stars were handed a painful pre-season lesson by rejuvenated United.

With the exceptions of Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus, Arteta started this high-profile showdown in New Jersey’s giant Metlife Stadium with his strongest possible team.

That meant first starts for Declan Rice, Jurrien Timber and Kai Havertz in their new club’s colours.

But even that £200million trio was not enough to hold off Erik ten Hag’s fired-up team as goals from Bruno Fernandes and Jadon Sancho secured bragging rights for United.

It was during last summer’s pre-season tour of the US that Arsenal first showed that they were going to be serious players when they battered Chelsea 4-0 in Orlando.

And the strength of Arteta’s starting line-up last night suggested that they were looking to make a similar statement of intent against another of their expected title rivals.

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But it was United who started the stronger and when Rice was caught out by Luke Shaw’s long ball over the top, England’s most expensive player was fortunate that Antony scuffed his resulting shot wide.

Another slick United move was only ended by William Saliba’s last-ditch challenge to deny Mason Mount a first goal for his new club.

But Arsenal were quickly into their stride after those early let-offs and Gabriel Martinelli twice came close to breaking the deadlock after being teed up by Bukayo Saka.

The second occasion required a magnificent double save from Tom Heaton which must have impressed the watching Andre Onana as much as it did the 82,262 sell-out crowd.

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The majority of those fans appeared to be supporting United and they were up on their feet and celebrating when Fernandes fired their team into a 30th minute lead.

The newly appointed Reds captain took a pass from Kobbie Mainoo and was allowed to cut inside before unleashing a low shot from the edge of the area which skipped inside the far post first bounce.

Arsenal keeper Aaron Ramsdale will probably feel he should have done better with that one, but his error didn’t even begin to compare to Gabriel Magalhaes’ howler when United doubled their lead seven minutes later.

The Brazilian international centre-half had all the time in the world to deal with a routine clearance on the halfway line but made a complete mess of his attempts to control.

Sancho was onto the loose ball like a shot and showed an impressively cool head as he raced away from the Arsenal defence to smash one into the top corner.

Lisandro Martinez raised temperatures even higher with a nasty yellow card challenge on Saka which brought an angry reaction from the winger’s team-mates just before the break.

That was more than enough for ten Hag, who replaced all ten outfield players at the break as he continues to give everyone the chance to impress.

Yet all those changes could not knock United out of their stride and the way they continued to dominate the team who finished nine points above them in the Premier League last season was an encouraging sign for United’s Dutch boss.

Eddie Nketiah missed a decent chance to reduce the arrears after being played in by Martin Odegaard’s clever free-kick and Havertz sent a looping header just over as Arsenal tried to salvage some pride.

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But United were always in control in front of the biggest crowd ever seen at this stadium for a ‘soccer’ match, also winning the post-match penalty shootout 5-3.

Now United head to San Diego to take on Wrexham on Tuesday while Arsenal complete their US adventure with a game against Barcelona in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

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