Man Utd made David Raya look foolish – by copying Harry Kane

But the assistance for each of their strikes should probably be awarded to an Englishman more than 500 miles from the Emirates Stadium: Harry Kane.

What has the England captain got to do with United winning a penalty shoot-out over Arsenal? Well, it was Kane who first spotted a vulnerability in the penalty-stopping technique of David Raya, the Arsenal goalkeeper.

Raya pulled off two fantastic saves to secure a win for his team, showing his agility by leaping at full stretch to his far post.

In anticipation of his encounter with Raya, Kane carried out research into the Spanish master's tactics. "I did some study on his [shoot-out] against Porto – he really managed to reach the corners early," Kane explained afterwards. "So I had to adapt my approach a little. It was a pleasure to see him begin early and make it straightforward for me."

Kane resorted to an uncharacteristically slow build-up, giving Raya the ball first. When Raya moved over to the right, Kane simply slipped the ball past her to the left.

On Sunday at the Emirates Stadium, three of the five United penalty takers had runs of similar pace, allowing Raya to gain the initiative. In a familiar scenario from last season against Kane, Raya leapt too early - and the other three United players simply sent the ball to the other side of the goal.

What an incredible spring from Raya - he even dived beyond the left-hand post for Leny Yoro's penalty! It was a remarkable leap, but unfortunately, the ball went in the opposite side of the net, leaving Raya stranded on the wrong side of the goal. The same fate befell the penalties taken by Bruno Fernandes and Amad Diallo.

It appears this is simply Raya's approach to stopping penalties in shoot-outs: committing to staying with one side and giving it his all. Against Porto last season, it worked extremely well. Against United, however, it led to ridicule and derision from opposing fans on social media.

Interestingly, however, Raya's tactic doesn't always work when it comes to non-penalty shoot-outs. For instance, against Tottenham Hotspur last season, Raya didn't anticipate Son Heung-min's move. In the end, the ball sailed past him before he'd even taken a dive.

Another unusual aspect of Sunday's FA Cup match was that it was the second time United's head coach, Ruben Amorim, had won a shoot-out at the Emirates Stadium. At the same part of the stadium, in front of the away fans, Amorim's Sporting CP team defeated Arsenal on penalties in the Europa League back in 2023.

On that occasion, Aaron Ramsdale was in goal for Arsenal. In contrast to Raya, Ramsdale tended to leave his goal a bit too late in that penalty shootout. Much like Raya, he failed to make any saves.

Of course, none of this is down to Raya for Arsenal's defeat. Goalkeepers can't be expected to save penalties all the time. The statistics, after all, are always against them. But it wouldn't be a shock if, the next time Arsenal are in a penalty shoot-out, Raya changes his strategy to keep his opponents from guessing.

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Liverpool line up TWO wonderkids to replace Darwin Nunez

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Anfield Watch understands that Liverpool are open to offloading Darwin Nunez next year. In fact, they're now open to doing so this month, provided they can get a buyer who meets their extremely high asking price.

EXCLUSIVE: Liverpool-linked Darwin Nunez lands ABSOLUTE BARGAIN transfer offer

Now, it's not clear how likely that is. Al-Hilal do want Nunez but, of course, we don't know exactly what they're prepared to pay.

Saudi Pro League teams aren't the most predictable in the world and it could well be that they pay him up. However, even if they don't, the writing is on the wall for Nunez.

He hasn't lived up to the expectations of Liverpool thus far. His style of football isn't really compatible with Arne Slot's team's approach, and certainly not as much so as it was with Jurgen Klopp's.

Of course, it's still the case that if he was a more reliable strike, Nunez would be at any top club in the world. Sadly, we've reached the stage where nobody actually expects this level of clinical finishing to materialise.

So we expect Liverpool to try to either sell Nunez to a good buyer this summer, or perhaps hold out for an offer later on. The reason for this is probably because the Reds are preparing for the next season, which is something to get optimistic about.

Liverpool's wonderkid plan

As revealed by Anfield Watch at the weekend, Liverpool are prepared to offer around £25m for Stefanos Tzimas. They're open to parting with that amount this month, although that might be dependent on Nunez leaving.

Tzimas, however, would be a substitute. He's younger, still only 19, and has a different profile to Nunez. He's also more suitable to be brought in and out of the team at this stage in his career.

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Danns came off the bench to score against Accrington Stanley on Saturday, of course. The teenager now boasts an impressive record for the Liverpool senior side

It would seem that Danns has a very promising future ahead of him. Team him up with players like Tzimas and Liverpool would then have a very promising future indeed.

We've seen how Arne Slot has improved players quickly when they 'get' his system. Danns proved he can adapt to it in rapid time this weekend, while there's great hope that Tzimas has the ideal profile for the future.

And Liverpool are being clever by hedging their bets. Maybe one of the two young forwards won't quite live up to expectations – but by taking a chance on both, the Reds substantially increase their chances of finding a top-class striker.

And who knows, perhaps both of them might become stars.

EXCLUSIVE: Liverpool to pay a players transfer record-breaking fee for a top young talent

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