An old rivalry was reignited on Sunday.
Top-of-the-table Arsenal clashed with top-four Manchester United in one of the most anticipated English Premier League matches between the two since the early and mid 2000s.
It certainly lived up to the billing, with the Gunners prevailing 3-2 inside a roaring Emirates Stadium. The atmosphere replicated in the United States, too, with the game becoming the most-watched EPL match in the country’s history, NBC Sports announced on Tuesday.
The match averaged 1.92 million English-language viewers on NBC and Peacock, with an additional 382,000 on Telemundo. It marked Telemundo’s most-watched Spanish-language match since last April, when Manchester City-Liverpool garnered 440,000.
Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka each exchanged stunning goals — Rashford’s in the first half to make it 1-0 and Saka’s in the second to make it 2-1 — as the game became level at 2-2 with the 90th minute approaching.
It culminated in a storybook-like ending for Arsenal after their continuous domination finally resulted in a last-minute goal courtesy of academy product Eddie Nketiah, who has deputized off the bench for the injured starter Gabriel Jesus.
It was the 23-year-old’s second goal of the game after equalizing in the 24th minute. Arsenal increased their lead at the top to five points with a game in hand over second-place Manchester City while Manchester United stayed in fourth, trailing Newcastle United based on goal difference.
The Premier League Mornings Live fan fest in Orlando over the weekend also drew its largest audience, with an average of 947,000 across four television match windows.
With the next weekend featuring FA Cup action, the Premier League won’t return until Friday, Feb. 3 when 10th-place Chelsea hosts seventh-place Fulham.
