Manchester United (0) 2 - 0 (0) Arsenal
Old Trafford, Sunday 9th April 2006
FA Premiership
Arsenal:
Lehmann
Eboue Toure Senderos Flamini
Hleb (Ljungberg 73) Cesc (Diaby 70) Gilberto Pires
Adebayor van Persie (Henry 70)
A disappointing result but perhaps not all that surprising.
If any team were to be found capable of ending our great recent
run, United were always going to be favourites. And perhaps that
was Arsene Wenger's thinking behind the team selection.
I have to say that I wasn't
expecting Thierry Henry to be rested for this one.
I think most of us were thinking that Henry might be left out
for the easier games coming up, at Portsmouth tomorrow and
then at home to West Brom on Saturday. But perhaps the way it
goes is this: those 2 are must win games, whereas Le Boss
has probably always had it in his head that we're likely to come away
from Old Tartford with less than 3 points. Furthermore, Henry's more
likely to pick up an injury playing against United.
Whatever the reasoning, as far as this one game was concerned,
it didn't work out. Arsenal bossed the first 20 minutes or so
but after that the home side took over. In particular, we came up against
Wayne Rooney on top form. And that's
not too far short of coming up against Thierry Henry on average form -
a scary prospect for anyone! Wenger said after the game
that Arsenal were a bit jaded from the Juve exertions and that's
farir enough. To be fair to United, as well, they were good enough to
take full advantage, at to make our kids look like kids for once. Credit
where it's due, they may have limped embarassingly out of the Champs League,
but on this day they (and Rooney in particular) did what the superstars of Real Madrid and Juventus couldn't.
Once United started to come into the game, new Germany keeper
Jens Lehmann showed something of why Klinsmann has picked him. A Giggs
free kick was cleared but only to Rooney who fired a shot in from 25 yards
forcinf a fine save from Lehmann. Soon after, Rooney was muscling his
way past Kolo Toure on the edge of the box and shooting from a narrow angle
which took another good save from Jens to stop it sneaking in the far corner.
Giggs got a fine chance from a cross by Gary Neville, but sent his
header over the bar, then van Nostrilrooy (starting instead of
Saha, as expected)
dragged a shot wide. Meanwhile, Arsenal's best chance of the first half
was a terrific van Persie shot from outside the box which produced a
world class low diving save from van der Sar.
Just before the break came the biggest talking point of the game.
Rooney was put clear through and tried to go round Lehmann, but
Jens managed to get a touch on the ball with his hand to push
Rooney wide. Two defenders were scrambling back into the goalmouth as
he shot from an angle, and Toure did brilliantly to dive at a stretch
and get enough of a touch on the shot to divert it onto the post.
Afterwards, Rooney seemed to be claiming that Toure had used his hand.
And replays later showed that Rooney was quite right. Another terrific save.
But 9 minutes after the break there was no such let-off. Van Persie allowed
Vidic to steal the ball, and Silvestre sent over a cross of pinpoint
accuracy, landing perfectly for Rooney between 2 defenders. He still
had to control it and the England man showed great skill, collecting
the ball with his first touch as he turned round Philippe Senderos
and firing past Lehmann from close range with his second.
The game opened up as Arsenal tried to come back. Adebayor fired over
the bar and Emmanuel Eboue sent over a decent cross which van Persie
couldn't quite reach. Robert Pires sent a dangerous low ball into
their crowded box and it got through to Adebayor who nearly managed to
flick it in at the far post. But United were benefitting from the space too,
with chances falling to Giggs and Saha. And with 12 minutes to go
Rooner turned creator: making space on the left and beating Senderos'
challenge to send over a cross which Park put in at the far post.
We're back down
to 6th, but with a game in hand over Tottenham (5 pts ahead in 4th)
and Blackburn (1 pt ahead in 5th). The teams below us are out of the equation
now (or at least, if they're allowed back into it then we'll be screwed
already because we'll have slipped too far from the teams above).
Tomorrow's trip to Portsmouth is therefore a huge game, and it's a huge
one for them too since a win will bring them out of the bottom 3 again.
For us, 3 points will put 4th spot back into our own hands. At the weekend,
we play the Baggies at home while Tottenham have a tricky trip to Goodison and Rovers
are at home to the other scousers. And on Easter Monday, while we take a
break thanks to the good will of the excellent Stuart Pearce, Tottenham
entertain Man Utd. It's a big 7 days for the Arsenal, to be followed
by another big 7 days, and another....
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