Young: Eight goals enough against Arsenal

The reigning Premier League champions signalled their intent on claiming a 20th league crown by demolishing an Arsenal side weakened by injuries and suspensions, with Wayne Rooney bagging a hat-trick and Young two stunning long-range strikes in a crushing victory for the Red Devils.

With 25 efforts on the Gunners’ goal, 15 on target, United’s margin of success could have been even greater. But former Watford and Aston Villa wide-man Young has told FourFourTwo that he was happy to settle for ‘just’ the eight.

“I don’t think [we took our foot off the pedal],” he says in the November 2011 issue of FourFourTwo, out now.

“There were many times when we kept the ball really well because you can’t keep going forward all the time – so maybe it looked that way. It would have been nice to score more goals but eight was more than enough!”

The Red Devils’ emphatic win was particularly special for 26-year-old Young, as it came against the team he supported as a child, with the England international’s friends and family members still supporters of Arsene Wenger’s side.

However, the Stevenage-born speedster says that he has had to rein in his allegiances since signing for the three-time European Cup winners.

“When I signed for United, we went on tour to the USA and I was asked by some kids who was my idol was and I said Ian Wright because I was an Arsenal fan as a kid,” he says.

“I then had 30 of them booing me, so I’ve started to distance my allegiances! But winning 8-2 was a great day. My family and friends are Arsenal fans but when you play, you don’t think about that.”

Read the full in-depth interview with Ashley Young in the November 2011 issue of FourFourTwo – a Manchester derby special – which also features exclusive interviews with Sergio Aguero, Roberto Mancini, Nemanja Vidic, Micah Richards and Tom Cleverley. Plus, find out how Fernando Torres could have been a goalkeeper! Subscribe now!