Altay Bayindir the hero as 10-man Manchester United see off Arsenal in FA Cup third round

In the pick of the FA Cup third-round clashes, Arsenal and Manchester United faced off on Sunday, with the two most successful sides in the competition’s history going head to head for a place in the next round.

A drab first half at the Emirates Stadium came close to providing its first decisive moment in the 18th minute when Gabriel Martinelli finished with aplomb only for the offside flag to deny him.

Down the other end, Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho called David Raya to action, but the Spaniard was largely untroubled on both occasions.

Still level after 45 minutes, both teams headed into the locker room with little to choose between them, and the clash was not living up to expectations.

However, the tie would have its first goal barely five minutes into the second half as Garnacho teed up Bruno Fernandes, who unleashed a scorching effort past Raya to break the deadlock.

Having gone behind, Arsenal began to up the ante at the top end of the pitch and should have gotten back on level terms just before the hour mark but for some wasteful finishing from Kai Havertz.

The Gunners continued to assert their dominance and were handed a man advantage shortly after the hour mark when Diogo Dalot received his marching orders for two bookable offences.

Mikel Arteta’s men wasted no time making their numerical superiority count as Gabriel Magalhaes lashed home from inside the penalty area, albeit via a deflection.

Now on level terms and playing against 10 men, Arsenal were favourites to go through and had a glorious chance to get themselves ahead from the spot with 18 minutes left to play.

Skipper Martin Ødegaard was, however, denied by Altar Bayindir, and some would feel justice was served given the incident that led to the award of the spot-kick.

Bayindir’s penalty save spurred the goalkeeper into further heroics as he would go on to deny Declan Rice twice before the end of normal time.

With no replays in this season’s FA Cup third round, the clash headed to extra time after neither side was able to find the winner.

Arsenal came close to getting their noses in front before the first 15 minutes of extra time elapsed, but Matthijs De Ligt was on hand to deny Leonard Trosaard what would have been a sure goal from point-blank range.

After absorbing pressure for large spells of extra-time first half, United launched an attack at the start of the second half, and Raya needed to be on song to deny Joshua Zirkzee’s deflected effort from creeping in.

A quick corner routine nearly caught Ruben Amorim’s men out shortly afterwards, although Martinelli was unable to generate real purchase on his header.

Amad would have the final decent chance of the game from a header, which he put wide, sending the contest to the luxury of penalties.

Fernandes and Odegaard scored their respective opening spot-kicks apiece, but after Amad had put United 2-1 up, Havertz was denied by Bayindir.

Perhaps a surprise inclusion in the first five takers, Leny Yoro dispatched his penalty with aplomb before Rice also converted to keep Arsenal alive.

Lisandro Martinez and Thomas Partey both made no mistake with their subsequent assignments, handing Joshua Zirkzee the opportunity to settle matters.

The Dutchman rose to the occasion and sent Raya the wrong way to put United into the FA Cup fourth round.

On a personal note, Zirkzee’s clinching penalty is a huge moment of relief for the striker, who has endured a difficult past couple of weeks.