Arsenal:
                 Almunia
Lauren (Cesc 83) Campbell (Hoyte 79) Cygan Cole
   Ljungberg Vieira Flamini (Reyes 71) Pires
           Henry Bergkamp

To be fair, we did get just that in the first half. And although it's fair to say that United deserved the win, there was a lot less in it than many observers will be making out. Arsenal won the first half by some way in terms of performance, but not by enough in terms of scoreline. United responded with 3 goals that were all (though well-taken) largely presents from the Arsenal defence, the 4th coming when we were chasing the game somewhat desperately.

The first significant action was a penalty claim from Ashley Cole after 3 minutes. It was up the other end and I've not seen any replays, so I can't really comment except to say that some Arsenal fans have told me it was a definite pen and others that it was a definite dive.

A minute later, Roy Carroll snatched the ball at Freddie's feet after a trademark Freddie run onto a trademark Bergkamp pass through the defence.

30 seconds later a Ronaldo shot was deflected wide with Almunia stranded. And that's the kind of end-to-end thriller it went on to be.

After about 7 minutes Bergkamp made a great run onto a long throw by Lauren, assisted by a slip from Silvestre. He might have taken it on himself, probably would have got a shot in, but squared for Cole instead and when fed Henry the resulting shot was deflected for a corner. Henry took it himself from the left, a nice high one which Vieira's glancing header placed inside the right hand upright for 1-0.

Cole was surprised on the ball by Fletcher but recovered well to hook the ball away for a corner. Keane made a run to the near post but Henry was alive to the threat and raced over to head it clear for another corner. This one was taken short then crossed in and headed out well by Cygan.

Then it started to get a bit tasty. Heize was booked for obstructing Freddie's attemot to brign the ball in from the right touchline, and then Giggs for a late sliding two-footed challenge on Cole on the other wing. Rooney caught Lauren late too but was quick to apologise and it did look accidental.

On 18 minutes they drew level against the run of play. Campbell gave the ball away badly just outside our box, to Ronaldo and/or Scholes who put it out wide to Rooney. He squared fro Giggs whose shot was deflected past Almunia who looked like he would otherwise have had it covered.

Very soon after that, Rooney left Cygan for dead runnign down their right. He cut it back for Ronaldo whose shot was deflected off Lauren but this time it just took the pace off the ball allowing it to bobble through to Almunia.

Ronaldo won a soft free-kick off of Freddie on the right but when someone else took it quick Ronaldo wasn't ready and we got it back.

A clearance from Almunia hit Rooney who was chasing him down, but fortunately it only served to take the pace off the ball rather than send it back goalwards. Then Cygan made an excellent tackle on Rooney as he powered into the box with the ball.

Pires was tripped just inside the box with the ref unsighted, and the linesman didn't have the guts to make the call. Then on 22 minutes Bergkamp made space for himself just outside the D and curled a shot towards the top right corner, but it swung in too much and Carroll saw it early enough to make a comfortable save.

Henry chased the ball towards the right hand side of the penalty area. Carroll came over but although managing to keep his feet inside the box as he got hold of the ball his hands were outside (it was the same spot on that edge of the box which was the scene of Almunia's later and more crucial error). Bergkamp's free kick hit the wall and went out for a corner which Pires took. Again Vieira rose to head it but this time he didn't get enough on it and the ball went beyond the far post where Henry (the only Arsenal forward to have a poor game, I thought) failed to control it.

Pires was fouled by Fletcher and then booked for his reaction, a bit hardh I thought and if the ref's idea was to stop such ninsense it didn't work because everyone was reacting to everything by now. Hell of a hard game to ref though and Poll didn't manage it badly overall. Rooney said something to Pires and got away with a warning (not for the first or last time - for a while Shrek seemed to be immune to cards).

Just after the half hour Vieira (another under-par performer) was robbed too easily by Ronaldo, then fouled him. Heinze hit the free kick well wide.

On 36 minutes Campbell took a free kick in our half. Vieira picked it up just inside theirs and passed forward to Henry who received it just outside the box with back to goal. He waited for Bergkamp's run into the box on the right and slipped the ball into his path. Dennis hit it first time, from a narrow angle, nutmegging Carroll as he placed the ball inside the far post to regain the lead.

5 minutes before half time Cygan made a great tackle just inside Utd's half but then made the mistake of following the ball instead of dropping back. They won it back quickly and Giggs hit a nice ball forward for Rooney to exploit the space we'd left. But as he came into thebox on Almunia's left the keeper did really well to come out and block the shot.

Bergkamp was put through by Henry, totally clear on goal but pulled back for offside - a decision which was marginal and, by all accounts, wrong.

Then Bergkamp chased a long high ball into the box on the right and pulled off a classic bit of Dennis as he controlled the ball and beat a defender in one go, but he had to shoot with his left foot and although it surprised Carroll the shot went straight at him.

Rooney was booked for a handball and was lucky not to also be booked for his reaction. Instead Poll brought Keane over to have a word and tell him to calm Rooney down.

An Arsenal free kick from the halfway line foudn Henry with back to goal. He flicked it on, behind him, with the top of his head, but it just missed the right hand post.

First action of the second half was a nice ball infield from Lauren to Henry, who did well to get a shot in but scuffed it throuhg to the keeper.

A quick Arsenal bvreak on the right ended with a Freddie cross which looped up in the air and allowed Silvestre to make a telling challenge near the spot.

A terrific break by Bergkamp, with a little help from a ricochet off a Utd player in the middle of it, brought the bal forward from the halfway line on the left to near the box. He played it wide to Lauren whose cross was blocked by Heinze for a corner. Henry hit another good high one (not so many getting blocked low at the near post these days - have we been practising?) which Campbell headed just wide.

9 minutes after the break Vieira gave away an unnecessary free-kick in Utd's half which Keane took quickly. The ball came to Ronaldo on the left in far too much space and he hit the shot across Almunia and inside the far post to bring them level.

Having been on top up to this point in terms of attacking, Arsenal seemed to lose some of their belief immediately and this, together with the defensive uncertainty that had been there from the start, proved to be the difference.

A Rooney free kick hit the angle of bar and post. Then just before the hour Almunia made a dreadful error. He allowed himself to be pulled out of position right to that edge of his box on the left, trying to get to the ball before Giggs which was always going to be difficult. Lauren perhaps also was at fault for not chasing Giggs but perhaps also the fact that Almunia was charging out gave him second thoughts. Anyway, Giggs gotthe ball easily enough and managed to whip a cross across the face of goal which Ronaldo tapped in at the far post.

Arsenal were truly desperate now and it showed. But we gained an advantage in numbers on about 70 minutes. There was a clash between Bergkamp and Silvestre in the Utd box, all I saw clearly was Silvestre's push on Bergkamp at the end of it but it seems the initial foul was by Dennis. But as Silvestre walked away he inexplicably and with no apparent provocation headbutted Freddie in the face (he had to change his bloodied shirt). Free kick to United but straight red card to Silvestre. If we'd been infront or even level it might have given us an effective advantage. But as we know only too well, breaking down massed defences is not Arsenal's forte, and against a team that's good on the break as well... well, let's just say it never really looked like 11 against 10. Ronaldo went off for Wes Brown to come on into the defence, and Arsenal brought Reyes on for Flamini (who had had a pretty good game).

Our only clear chabce of the second half came a few minutes later when Cole and Pires combined brilliantly on the left, playing a 1-2 in a crowded area which took Cole into space towards the goal-line. His cross was miskicked by Bergkamp but came through to Freddie who executed a pretty nice volley forcing Carroll into anear post save.

Saha came on for Giggs and was just the kind of player you'd want in this situation, alone up front and doing really well at holding the ball up and taking the pressure off (such as it was).

Saha nearly got in with his first touch when he chased a ball forward that lopped over Cygan. Campbell made a great covering run and challenge but ended up being kicked in the leg by Saha in the process, and had to come off replaced by Hoyte. Freddie was pushed over in the box but once again Poll waved play on. Freddie might not havce had much chance of getting the ball as he chased it into a crowd of 3 defenders but there looked to be clear push. Fabregas came on for Lauren, and then with a minute to go O'Shea beat the offside trap and found himself in loads of space on their left, and chipped Almunia to make the points safe.

Still we had a go, and there was an understandable 5 or 6 minutes of injury time (less than there should have been, if anything, such had been the fiery nature of the game). Fabregas put a nice cross in which Dennis headed towards the far post only to see it cleared, and I'm sure it looked like we had the ball over the line at one point in the desperate late scramble but it was cleared off (or over) the line and wasn't given.

So, a deserved United win but not a huge amount in it except perhaps in terms of attitude. We lost our confidence when they levelled the second time - perhaps aware that their goals had been very much our own fault. People will be saying that United are now the only challengers... but if Arsenal can pick their form up a little - and repeat the performance of the first half of this game in a few more league ties, we can overtake them again before long. What we need most of all is to do that in order to gain a bit of momentum going into the re-start of the Champs League. Bayern Munich are also not going to lay down and die if we go ahead against them.

The last time we lost at home in the league was that Leeds win which cost us the title in 2002-03. That's a run of 33 which is a Premiership record.