See previous story for Arsenal starting line-up. We were excited to see Keown Cole and Seaman back in defence, but what made the difference in the first half was, arguably, a return to form for Freddie Ljungberg.

Freddie had a particularly lively first half, popping up on both wings and playing with bundles of energy. On 25 minutes he'd done brilliantly on the left, first beating a Blade in the chase for a loose ball to recover possession, then skipping through 2 tackles only to be brought down by the third (McCall's booking, in fact). Moments later he was on the other wing doing similarly good work.

But after a pretty even first half-hour, United were coming into it more and more. They nearly scored on the half hour when a diagonal cross from their right wing was deflected out beyond the far post by Lauren's stooping header, which only just took it past the striker coming in behind him.

But Arsenal took the lead on 34 minutes with a controversial and somewhat lucky goal.

Campbell fouled Allison a few yards outside our penalty area. Well, I think it looked like a foul. The ref Graham Poll didn't give it, and appeared to think that Aliison had gone down too easily because although Allison stayed down for ages Poll didn't stop play so he could get treatment. As Arsenal took the ball forward, we should have lost it but Poll did us another favour. A loose pass from the left wing towards the centre circle was clearly going to be intercepted by Tonge, but Poll ran into him and we kept possession. It can and wil be argued that Poll could have used the Allison injury as an excuse to stop play after this incident.

Anyway, it came to Ljungberg just outside the D and he chipped it to the left side of their box for Jeffers to run onto. He got to the goal-line and, under pressure from 2 defenders did well to cut it back. Wiltord was on the 6 yard line and clipped it first time across goal. It wasn't clear how much Sylvain knew about it actually, but he was certainly alert as it came back off the far post. He followed it across goal, picked it up beyond that post, and turned to cut it back across goal. A deflection off a defender took it into the path of Ljungberg who blasted it in off the underside of the bar.

Ashley Cole was booked in the first half for a silly tackle from behind out on the wing (he was trying to get the ball, poking his leg through the United player's, but it was an unnecessary challenge in an unthreatening position). Stuart McCall had been booked too, and there was a disappointing moment when Martin Keown appeared to be asking the ref to book him again following a not-particularly-unpleasant foul on Wiltord.

United started the second half very well. I thought Lauren was in trouble on 50 minutes when Ndlovu got in front of him onto a long ball down our right. The ref blew up when Lauren clearly fouled from behind and it looked like a booking for the Arsenal man, but fortunately Poll had done well, spotting a handball by Ndlovu as he brought the ball down.

2 minutes later Brown did brilliantly in the middle of the pitch, riding 2 challenges then slipping the ball wide left to Ndlovu. This time he had loads of space, but chipped it nicely into Seaman's arms.

On 55 a great ball over the top from Vieira set Jeffers off, but the Blades keeper did well to come out of his box and head it clear. A minute later Vieira had to come off. He'd been struggling since a yellow card tackle by Brown, when he'd scraped his studs down Paddy's calf from behind.

Gilberto looked far too languid for this game, but did combine well with Edu soon after coming.on, with some 1-touch passing bringing the ball forward from the centre circle to the edge of the box, where a chance was created for Wiltord. But a desperate challenge by a defender just did enough to turn his low shot into an easy one for the keeper.

On 64 a long throw from their right was flicked on by a United head and then an Arsenal one, and it fell to Brown in space on the far side of the box. But his first-time shot as it fell sliced wide of Seaman's left hand post.

With United maving had much the better of the second half so far, on 66 Wenger decided to raise our threat on the break by bringing Henry on for Jeffers. 4 minutes later Curtis had a shot from 25 yards which flew a foot over the angle of post and bar, with Seaman possibly having had it covered (that's the impression he tried to give, at least!)

On 79 Brown broke down their left to the goal-line, and hung a nice chip up for Montgomery beyond the far post but his goal-bound header was blocked then cleared by Cole (with Seaman in its line too). Dennis Bergkamp came on for Wiltord, and Parlour and Gilberto combined to create a half chance for Henry who tried to be a bit too clever with a flick and shot when a first-time strike might have been the best option.

On 84 minutes Seaman made possibly the save of the decade when Asaba got his foot to a cross and Pescisolido's cushioned header (possibly from an offside position) was heading goalwards past the keeper. Somehow, at full stretch, Seaman managed to reach the ball with his right hand and claw it out. Literally breathtaking. Peter Schmeichel described it as "the best save I've ever seen". We still needed a bit of luck as another United player was following up and blasted it wide.

In the last few minutes Arsenal came to life a bit, winning their first corner of the match and then creating chances for Ljungberg and Bergkamp. In injury time Kenny the United keeper went up for a free kick which was scrambled clear by Arsenal.

Full credit to United for a superb performance, especially in the second half. They can rightly consider themselves unlucky to have lost. Good luck for the play-offs!