On This Day In 2015, Phil Jones Blessed The Premier League With A Truly Heroic Piece Of Defending

On this day in 2015, Manchester United defender Phil Jones gave us one of the most iconic defensive moments in Premier League history during a clash against Arsenal.

It was a far-from-memorable afternoon at Old Trafford in terms of quality on the pitch.

With both sides already guaranteed Champions League football, Ander Herrera's first-half strike gave Louis van Gaal's side a deserved lead but a deflected Theo Walcott cross meant the spoils were shared.

Image credit: Alamy

The game was, however, resurrected by a flying 'head-tackle' from Phil Jones in the 21st minute.

After initially slipping in a one-on-one battle with Olivier Giroud, the former Blackburn man made up for his error by heroically throwing himself to the ground before getting a touch to the ball with his head.

For me, this might be one of the most underrated pieces of defending in recent memory.

Away from that heroic moment and Jones made several headlines during Louis van Gaal's entertaining, albeit bizarre time at Old Trafford, including the fact he was once United's designated corner taker.

In a 2015 Premier League game at QPR, fans were stunned to see the centre-back whipping one into the box.

Back in 2017, centre-back Jones said Van Gaal didn't believe in him during his spell at Old Trafford.

“The only three (managers to believe in me) were Sam Allardyce, Sir Alex Ferguson and now Jose Mourinho,” he told the Manchester Evening News.

“Jose, this season has just given me so much confidence in training. You make a mistake and it is just a case of ‘so what, get on with it’.

“For whatever reason he (Van Gaal) thought I needed to be fitter. I had no problem with that, I just played the games. I did what I could do to get back in the team and unfortunately it didn’t really work out under him.

“No question there were thoughts about my future. It was in the back of my mind. If you are not playing games that speaks volumes.”

Image credit: Alamy

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