There was no shortage of subplots to Sunday's meeting of Manchester United and Arsenal.Arsene Wenger was making his last trip to Old Trafford as Arsenal boss, he had rested a number of key players for the Europa League and Alexis Sanchez was playing against his old club for the first time.After three-and-a-half seasons at the club, Sanchez waved goodbye to Arsenal as a part of a swap deal with Henrikh Mkhitaryan.It was the latest example of Arsenal selling one of their top players to a rival in recent years.As a result, Sanchez hasn't been received all that well by Gooners in the aftermath of his departure and their first meeting was always going to create an interesting dynamic.

Alexis Sanchez returns vs Arsenal

Would the north London be able to cope with the Chilean after dropping so many players and two key centre-backs at that?

It quickly became apparent that Granit Xhaka, captain for the day, was going to be one of the key players in keeping Sanchez under wraps.

Xhaka lets Sanchez know he's there

And it took him just three minutes to assert his authority as captain and upon Sanchez.

The robust midfielder came in with a late challenge on his old teammate before full-on bodychecking him to the floor, conceding a free-kick.

To Xhaka's credit, he immediately helped Sanchez up afterwards.

That didn't stop Arsenal fans from loving the fundamentally 'let him know you're there' moment, though.

Take a look at the incident and reaction below:

Well that's one way to assert your authority.

It's never a bad idea to leave in a strong early tackle, when the referee is unlikely to brandish a yellow card and you can quickly set the tone but Xhaka's challenge was a little on the strong side.

The Swiss international is often criticised for being inconsistent yet he'll need to have his whits about him to tame Sanchez for 90 minutes. 

Do you think Granit Xhaka has a future at Arsenal? Have your say in the comments section below.