MATCH REPORTS
A spirited and inexhaustible Manchester United cannot have given up hope of the title after this. They must feel that any adversary is within their reach, even if Chelsea will hold their biggest advantage of the season, with an 11-point lead, if they win at Blackburn tonight. Mere numbers are too puny to intimidate United this morning.
Their powers of recovery were immense as, buoyed by a pair of Cristiano Ronaldo goals, they twice came from behind to beat Arsenal despite the dismissal of Mikaël Silvestre for butting Freddie Ljungberg when 21 minutes remained. With moments to go, the substitute John O'Shea scored by chipping stylishly over Manuel Almunia to emphasise that Arsenal's interest in the Premiership is over.
There were allegations and recriminations, fouls and dives, but the deepest impression was left in the minds of the crowd rather than on the bruised limbs of the combatants: United were markedly better. It should be a while before anyone dares argue that Arsenal are still a more evolved species of football team.
United must believe they will re-enter the Champions League this month in far better condition. With an extra man deployed in midfield they eventually dominated as Roy Keane had one of those nights when power somehow surges through his ageing body.
Times:
As the dust settled on another stormy chapter in this bitter saga, there were no reports, thankfully, of any soup being hurled in the corridors at Highbury, but another can of worms was certainly opened. Arsenal can be written out of the title saga after a match that displayed much that was good about this rivalry and all that was bad.
If Brian Barwick, the new chief executive of the FA, is serious about what he said on the subject of ridding the game of what he calls “cheating”, he will want to study the tape. Manchester United will feel mightily pleased after producing a memorable comeback, thanks to a brace of goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, but any efforts to claim the moral high ground were flawed, given that they were just as culpable in a match that involved play-acting, referee-baiting and head- butting.
Mikäel Silvestre was sent off for putting his forehead in Fredrik Ljungberg’s face after 68 minutes, six others were booked and, after the Battle of the Buffet last October, there was even a pre-match bunfight in the tunnel.
Roy Keane blamed Patrick Vieira for picking on Gary Neville — “an easy target” — but the appearance of the captains alongside each other always had the makings of an identity parade rather than a midfield tussle. And so they descended into a maelstrom of machismo, f-words and jabbed fingers, a puerile example that others were only too happy to follow.
Ultimately, the contest was consumed by its own hype, yet somewhere inside this ugly beast of a game there was a beautiful one trying to break out. There were moments of lustrous quality to go with those tackling like rusty scythes.
In the end, Sir Alex Ferguson’s mischievously timed comment about United and Chelsea being the two best teams in the country looked valid. Having morphed from untouchables to a mess of touchy foibles, it remains to be seen what further psychological blows another defeat by their sworn enemies induces in Arsenal.
Telegraph:
This compelling, sulphurous affair, a football match full of sound and fury, signified everything to Manchester United. They lost their composure at times, losing Mikael Silvestre to red mist and a red card for a butt, but Sir Alex Ferguson's men never lost their self-belief.
Inspired by Roy Keane, and the expert finishing of Cristiano Ronaldo, they came from behind to move ahead of Arsenal into second. Losing was simply not in the lexicon of United's 10 hungry men last night. Arsenal were demoralised, as listless after the break as they had been imperious in the first half.
This was a classic, one that will be talked about for years to come, brimming with the good, the bad and the ugly. The fuse had been lit early, surprisingly by two titans of the Premiership, men with huge respect for each other, Patrick Vieira and Keane.
The captains squared up in the tunnel, Keane reportedly shouting at Vieira that he "will see him out there". Only the smart intervention of Graham Poll, the busiest man in north London, curtailed this confrontation. Aware of the enmity between the sides, Poll barked: "Leave it, leave it in here."
No chance. Such was the intensity and physicality of the occasion, such was the fired up nature of the players, that Poll himself had to push Keane away within seconds of an opening whistle that acted on the combatants like the bell in a heavyweight re-match.
The tackles kept flying in, particularly United on Arsenal in the first half. Gabriel Heinze upended Vieira and then Freddie Ljungberg. Even Giggs, whose graceful football has lit up the Premiership for more than a decade, clattered into Ashley Cole. Now that was tapping up. Rooney, charging around like a runaway bullock, damaging United's shape by chasing vendettas all over the field, resembled a booking waiting to happen.
Goaded about his private life, including chants of "where's your granny gone", a reference to some nocturnal visits not found in Saga tour brochures, Rooney boiled over before half-time. He was cautioned by Poll and almost walked after giving the Hertfordshire official some choice Scouse invective. Poll showed some clemency. Rooney then left his foot in on Vieira and could easily have walked.
Cheating scarred proceedings, a shameful dive by Cole after three minutes confirming the win-at-all-costs mentality seizing both sides. Sporting principles burned on the bonfires of the protagonists' ambition. Cole probably thinks the Corinthian Casuals are fashion-conscious Greeks.
Yet amid all the heat and dust-ups, the cheating, the obvious winding-up of Rooney by the rather brave Robert Pires, some wonderful football broke out, spell-binding moves from both sides,
Arsène Wenger's men were a cut above in the first half, regaining the lead 10 minutes from the interval. United refused to yield and hit back in thrilling style. Stirred by Ferguson's half-time words, they equalised in sensational fashion 10 minutes after the re-start. Rooney's touch and vision brought the ball to the receptive feet of Giggs. Spotting Ronaldo's run outside him, the Welshman placed the ball into space and the Portuguese flier did the rest, controlling it instinctively with his right before applying the coup de grace with the left.
United were now irresistible. Rooney hit the woodwork. And then Keane, powering through Pires to win the ball, launched a counter-attack that ripped Arsenal apart. Giggs accelerated down the right, and Almunia came out, unnecessarily so, fatefully so. Giggs crossed into the untended goalmouth and there was Ronaldo to nudge United ahead. One goal clear, United were soon one player down when Silvestre departed.
United had not finished, John O'Shea exploiting poor defending to chip Almunia. The North Bank was stunned into silence
Independent:
Eyes blazing, toe to toe, so the most enthralling match of the Premiership season began with Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane facing each other down in the tunnel. The fuse was lit, the old enmity of two rivals sparked before a ball had been kicked. And when we finished 90 minutes later, the 10 men of Manchester United had made a booming statement about the shape of English football.
The title might well be Chelsea's, but Sir Alex Ferguson is back with a vengeance, from 11 points behind Arsenal in October to two points ahead this morning. This was a sensational game that was made ragged by emotion and fury but ultimately exposed the weaknesses at the heart of Arsène Wenger's defence. after Arsenal were twice in the lead, their goalkeeper Manuel Almunia was at fault for United's decisive third goal and, when Mikaël Silvestre was dismissed, not even Thierry Henry could deliver an equaliser.
From the moment Keane intervened in the tunnel to stop Vieira from, as he said, "intimidating" Gary Neville, to the full-time handshake between Wenger and Ferguson, this was a game that took the breath away. There was the ugly spectre of diving, there was a penalty that was not given and, looming over it all, was the edgy brilliance of Wayne Rooney that threatened to explode at times. Ferguson said his team included no "wimps" and on this evidence it was hard to disagree.
The story of how Arsenal lost an unbeaten run at home that started in May 2003 began with Freddie Ljungberg's soft fall to the ground in the first minute under Gabriel Heinze's supervision. A crowd of red shirts buzzed around the referee Graham Poll and, in the circumstances, you had to wonder what chance the official had of running the game.
It felt like we were clinging to the edge of sanity as Heinze and Ryan Giggs were booked. Only an apology from Rooney, when he caught Lauren, saved the teenager from the book.
Wenger called his team's defending "worrying" disastrous would be more accurate. The title might be lost, but United's response will echo across English football for some time to come.
Arsenal (4-4-2): Almunia; Lauren (Fabregas, 82), Cygan, Campbell (Hoyte, 81), Cole; Ljungberg, Flamini (Reyes, 72), Vieira, Pires; Bergkamp, Henry.
Substitutes not used: Lehmann (gk), Van Persie.
Manchester United (4-5-1): Carroll; G Neville, Ferdinand, Silvestre (Brown, 70), Heinze; Giggs (Saha, 76), Fletcher (O'Shea, 60), Keane, Scholes, Ronaldo; Rooney.
Substitutes not used: Howard (gk), P Neville