Manchester United and Arsenal are in transition – their draw at least gives faint hope for the future

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the prevalence of young players at Old Trafford on Monday night is that it did not need to be this way

It was a night mired in mediocrity, one which illustrated just how far Manchester United and Arsenal have fallen. And yet, at the final whistle, it was worth putting all the individual errors to one side, taking a step back and considering why the greatest fixture of the Premier League era was such a non-event, and unsurprisingly so. Forget all the history. Forget, even, the here and now. These are two clubs trying to build the future.

United played five players under the age of 23 – Axel Tuanzebe, Marcus Rashford, Daniel James, Scott McTominay and substitute Mason Greenwood. Whether 21-year-old Rashford still qualifies as inexperienced is debatable, but discount him and you are obliged to consider another relatively young player in Andreas Pereira, who is 23-years-old but has fewer than 11 Premier League career starts.

Arsenal started Bukayo Saka, an 18-year-old winger. Matteo Guendouzi, at 20, is already a mainstay of Unai Emery’s midfield. Reiss Nelson and Joe Willock – 19 and 20 respectively – were brought off the substitutes’ bench in the second half. Kieran Tierneey, at 22-years-old, was not deemed fit enough to play yet. Ainsley Maitland-Niles is the same age and was an unused substitute.

The interesting thing about the prevalence of young players at Old Trafford on Monday night is that it did not need to be this way. Whereas Chelsea have been forced to blood through academy talent by a one-year international transfer ban, United and Arsenal have embraced youth willingly. Emery’s squad is the sixth-youngest in the top-flight. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s squad is the second-youngest.

This was no one-game quirk last night, either. After seven games of the new season, Willock, Nelson and Guendouzi have been part of every Arsenal match day squad. The same can be said of Rashford, James, Tuanzebe and McTominay at United. Aaron Wan-Bissaka, still only 21-years-old, missed his first game of the campaign on Monday. Greenwood has only missed out once too.

And the game ended as a drab stalemate, many of these selections were justified. McTominay scored United’s goal. James was their most eye-catching player. Saka set up Arsenal’s equaliser and, aside from goal-scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, was probably their best player. Guendouzi did not disappoint in midfield. The youngsters, by and large, played well.

Why have both clubs pursued this policy, then? In United’s case, Solskjaer wants to bring young players through. Youth development is part of the club’s identity, an intrinsic part of the ethos he wants to re-establish. It is an unambiguously romantic approach that may be questioned unless United’s form improves quickly, but Solskjaer seems convinced of its merit.

Emery’s reasons, meanwhile, are more financial. A limited summer transfer budget always meant made opportunities for young talents more likely, but a club that has not been afraid to buy peak-age players at low prices in recent years could have done the same again. Instead, they looked to the likes of Saka, Willock and Nelson and saw a chance to fast-track development.

But when trying to settle on one unifying reason, it is hard not to draw the most obvious conclusion of them all: that both United and Arsenal realise they are a long way behind Manchester City and Liverpool. So far behind in fact, any aspirations of a genuine title challenge were remote before a ball was kicked. Much better, in that case, to replenish funds, develop players and build towards something different down the line.

Anyone at Old Trafford on Monday night could see that these two sides are long way off challenging for the title. It was one of the lowest-quality United-Arsenal encounters in recent memory. Headlines crying ‘how the mighty have fallen’ are not unfair. But perhaps an evening of rash decision-making and imprecise play was always to be expected from two teams of little experience.

Both United and Arsenal appear to be hoping that, with each game their young talents play, things can only get better.