Reports suggest that the change of heart came after sitting down to watch the incident on tape with his manager, an act which appears to have left little doubt in the minds of other observers. Van Nistelrooy's foot was clearly raised in Cole's direction and not towards the ball. Alan Hensen described the foul as "a disgrace" and "nasty and cynical", while Arsene Wenger has pointed out another stamping incident during the game when the Dutch striker appeared to aim his foot at Arsenal keeper Jens Lehmann.

The acceptance of the charge brings an automatic 3 match ban. The case was due to be heard tomorrow, but by pleading guilty the player's ban started immediately and so doing it before yesterday's League Cup tie against Crewe made sure that only 2 Premiership games are missed. Still, given the evidence it was the right thing to do, and it's hard to criticize him for using the system to minimize the punishment. We'd do the same (and were criticized for it by Sir Alex Ferguson following "handbaggate" at Old Trafford last season).

Van Nistelrooy has also apologised to Ashley Cole, saying that there was no deliberate attempt to harm him, and while it's hard not to take that with a pinch of salt given how the challenge appeared, it is possible that it was a heat-of-the-moment incident with no deliberation involved at all, and would again seem churlish to criticize him for doing the right thing.

Like Arsenal last year, United are trying to gain the moral high ground. Accepting this charge against van Nistelrooy makes it easier for them to continue their attacks on Arsenal. The Mirror quotes an "old Trafford insider" as saying "Not only did Arsenal lose the game. What happened afterwards showed they've lost the plot, too."

Have to say that Wenger's continuing to go on about van Nistelrooy's "cheating" does seem a bit like sour grapes. Yes, Man Utd used strong-arm tactics to beat us on Sunday. But surely that's just what everyone expected?