A big week for the club culminated in a game against arch rivals Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, and after some time, title rivals too. On the back of a tremendous win against City, this was certainly going to be a mental and physical test for the players, playing two high octane games in the space of 4 days. A last ditch winner for Chelsea the day before meant that a loss would be a disastrous result, whereas a win would mean edging Arsenal slightly out of the race, and putting ourselves as the main contenders against Chelsea for the remainder of the season. It was almost unanimously believed that Sir Alex would start with his preferred 4-5-1 formation to combat the talented Arsenal midfield, and that was precisely the case, with Fletcher, Carrick and Scholes forming a midfield three, and in-form Nani and Park playing down the wings. On fire Wayne Rooney led the line once more, and Ferdinand’s suspension and Vidic’s training injury meant a return to the starting eleven for Wes Brown. An important day for both sides then became a very memorable one for the fans of Manchester United.

As is often the case with games of this magnitude, both teams began tentatively, with some nervous possession of the ball. It seemed pretty open from the outset, and the first real chance in the game came for Arsenal’s Russian forward Andrey Arshavin. His pace seemed to cause Brown a few problems and on more than one occasion, it ended up a case of Rafael and Brown in combination trying to get the ball of Arshavin. Fortunately, he seemed more selfish today than he is known to be, and opted to take on the shot rather than play in a teammate in a better position. An early scare for van der Sar came when Arshavin took the ball into the box, shifted to the side and tried to curl one into the bottom corner of the van der Sar’s goal, but it went wide. Jonny Evans and Brown seemed to have the situation more or less under control, and there was hardly a single shot on target.

Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher both had good starts to the game and completely marked the influential Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas out of the game. Paul Scholes, who uncharacteristically played his 3rd consecutive game seemed unfazed by the young and zestful Arsenal midfield, and dictated play with his usual calmness. In the early minutes of the game, Arsenal were the team with the better share of the ball, though without much threat. Soon, however, the game changed its course, and United shifted through the gears to really take the game to the home side. At the centre of every meaningful United attack was Nani, the subject of much appreciation over the past 2 games. On more than one occasion, a United forward was sent through in the box, and but for important last-minute challenges from Vermaelen and Gallas, it might have become 1-0 to the visitors much sooner.

The breakthrough eventually did come, and it was down to a piece of absolute magic from Nani. Collecting the ball at far side, he seemed to have run into a hopeless situation with Clichy and Nasri on either side of him. Out of nowhere, Nani flicked the ball behind his legs – known before as the ‘Ronaldo Chop’ – and completely bamboozled the two Arsenal players. It didn’t end there, as he carried the ball towards the edge of the box, and with a little body feint took it past Denilson and stood up a cross at the far post. Arsenal goalkpeeper Manuel Almunia then tried to parry the ball away, but only managed the tip the ball into his own net. If branded an own goal, it will be a great injustice to Nani, as his skill there deserved a goal. Just four minutes after, Nani was at it again. Wayne Rooney held up the ball from an Arsenal corner, and fed Nani into the clear. Nani’s pace took him clear off any Arsenal defender, and was soon joined in support by Park, and a lung busting run from Wayne Rooney. Just when it was required, Nani provided an inch perfect pass for Rooney that took Clichy and Gallas out of the game. Rooney took the short first time in his stride and lashed the ball past Almunia into the bottom corner to put United in dreamland. A 2-0 lead after 37 minutes at the Emirates was was not a fortune experienced by many other teams, so the team seemed well set for the rest of the game. It was a devastating counter-attack that brought the second goal, reminiscent of the goal scored by Ronaldo against Arsenal in the semi final of the European Cup last year.

Rocked by these two goals in quick succession, Wenger and the fans seemed both shocked and disgusted, and the Arsenal team seemingly deflated. Soon after, there was even a chance for a third, when Nani could’ve scored into an open net, but his shot that was heading towards the centre of the goal took a deflection off Vermaelen’s arm and went wide. Nani appealed for a penalty – or a corner at the very least, but the referee Chris Foy claimed to have not noticed any such deflection. The teams consequently went to half time, with United all over Arsenal. This beyond what was expected of United against the in-form Arsenal, and blew apart many pundits’ view that Arsenal might have had 3 easy points yesterday. Indeed, the United fans were outsinging the Arsenal fans by quite a degree.

As the teams restarted, the Arsenal fans tried to act as an impetus for the misfiring team, as they called for more attacking play. It was evident when one could see 6, 7 Arsenal players going forward for every attack, and while this was the obvious form of reply, it left a danger at the back in the form of United’s counter attacks. And this is exactly the fate that befell Arsenal, just 7 minutes into the second half. Park and Evra in combination managed to win the ball off Rosicky and Park passed it forward to Carrick, who touched it onto Rooney. Ji Sung Park then made a shrewd third-man run (overlapping the man passing the ball) behind Rooney, which was spotted by Carrick who found him with a lovely lobbed ball over the defence to take Park into the clear. Nani and Rooney went forward as well as support, making it a 3-on-1 situation with only Clichy as the last defender. When it was expected that Park would square the ball to Nani, but the energetic winger carried on into the box and coolly finished it past the advancing Manuel Almunia, making it 3-0. It seemed as though that was that, and Manchester United fans could relax their nerves for the rest of the game.

As the game progressed, Arsenal’s sense of urgency increased, but it was too little too late. There were a number of shots on target, but van der Sar seemed comfortable with each one of them. On 80 minutes, Arsenal did manage to pull one back, after Vermaelen hit a left footed shot that deflected off Jonny Evans and went into the goal. It set the stage for a slightly tense finale, but nothing too concerning. In fact, there was another chance for United to score from a counter attack, when substitute Valencia found substitute Berbatov at the far post, who miscontrolled and somehow found Rooney. When it seemed as though it was an inevitable 4th goal, Rooney dragged his shot wide of the far post and was understandably frustrated. No harm done, and eventually after 5 minutes of added time, the referee blew the whistle on a memorable day for the Red Devils.

A 3-1 win away from home, a first away “Big Four” win since 2007. It was a great win, and the best team performance of the season by far. Carrick was superb and so was Fletcher – really, Fabregas and Denilson barely had a sniff. Nani and Rooney were the stars of the show, and central to every attack. Park who always plays against Arsenal got a goal, and his overall performance was very good as well, taking care of any overlapping runs from Sagna. Rafael once again looked solid, and is really pushing for a starting spot. Just a point behind Chelsea now, and Arsenal play Chelsea next weekend. Lets hope that they give them an absolute battering!

Best Moment: Nani’s trick

Worst Moment: Nothing really… Vermaelen’s goal?

Man of the Match: Nani

Written by Sownak27