Arsenal's Granit Xhaka scores out-swinging bender vs. Manchester United

March 11 (UPI) -- Arenal's Granit Xhaka got the scoring started with a trick out-swinging strike in the first half of the Gunners' 2-0 win against Manchester United.

Xhaka's score came in the 12th minute Sunday at Emirates Stadium in London.

Alexandre Lacazette found Xhaka with a with a short pass about 30 yards from the goal at the start of the sequence. The Gunners midfielder took a tap inside with his left boot before ripping into the ball from long distance.

The strike appeared to be going right toward the near-post. United keeper David de Gea followed that path, but guessed wrong. The knuckleball-ish strike instead dipped to the left, swinging toward the far-post netting. Xhaka's shot found the netting as de Gea froze and fell to the ground.

The score stayed at 1-0 through halftime before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang added the Gunners' final score on a 69th minute penalty kick.

"We are happy to win and it was very important if you see the results from Tottenham and Chelsea," Xhaka told Arsenal.com. "It was important to take the three points and now we're back in the game."

"We had to learn from our mistakes that we made against Manchester United in the FA Cup."

The Red Devils face Wolves in the FA Cup at 3:55 p.m. Saturday at Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton, England. Arsenal hosts Rennes in the UEFA Europa League at 4 p.m. Thursday at Emirates Stadium.

"I've only been here one year and Xhaka is a specialist with shooting and he can shoot from different positions on the pitch," Gunners manager Unai Emery said. "He can shoot far from the goal but his shooting is very dangerous usually. Today he tried to shoot and he scored but I think he can do more and can try like he did today in each match."