United Deliver Final Nail in Arsenal's Coffin

By David Hobbs
February 2 2005

Manchester United may have delivered the final nail in Arsenal's Premiership coffin tonight as The Red Devils emerged as victors in a fixture that will go down as one of the most frantic and exhilarating games of all time. Arsenal found themselves in-front on two occasions during the game.

United Deliver Final Nail in Arsenal's Coffin
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Arsenal 2
Vieira 8
Bergkamp 36

Manchester United 4
Giggs 18
Ronaldo 54, 58
O'Shea 89
Silvestre Sent Off 69

Manchester United may have delivered the final nail in Arsenal's Premiership coffin tonight as The Red Devils emerged as victors in a fixture that will go down as one of the most frantic and exhilarating games of all time.

Arsenal found themselves in-front on two occasions during the game, but United's resilience paid off as Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo and John O'Shea all netted to cancel Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp's goals.

United now continue their fine form against Arsenal since ending their 49-game unbeaten record earlier on in the season and the alleged 'Pizzagate' incident has now been banished, only to be replaced by more controversy along the lines of 'arguing with officials'.

Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson re-kindled their rivalry once again having been asked to 'cool down the war of words' for the clash.

The game started before referee Graham Poll even put lips-to-whistle as the captains of the respective clubs, Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira, were involved in a school-yard spat that had to be separated by both players and match officials.

Indeed, their actions can be considered pathetic and childish, but their tussle was nothing compared to several incidents on the battleground that was Highbury. Six yellow cards were dished out and a red card was produced to Mikael Silvestre towards the end of the game.

The Gunners' captain Patrick Vieira handed his side a deserved league with just eight minutes into the game. Vieira seemed to wrestle with Gabriel Heinze to get full view and sight of Thierry Henry's corner, that the midfield-maestro nodded home past hapless Roy Carroll.

United took this as a wake up call and created a few chances. The best of which was converted into a goal as Ryan Giggs fired home an equalizer. Wayne Rooney's control and poise on the ball set-up a poaching Giggs, who made no mistake in thumping past Almunia from outside the box.

Dennis Bergkamp showed no signs of his aging 35-year-old body by striking back the lead after 36 minutes to continue a vintage performance.

After the break, United killed off the game courtesy of two Cristiano Ronaldo goals. The winger's first was executed perfectly and the second was even better. Ronaldo sprinted to meet Ryan Giggs's floating cross after Almunia attempted to clear the ball from around his goal line.

Sir Alex Ferguson had to deal with a massive blow as Mikael Silvestre was dismissed for headbutting Freddie Ljungberg in-front of Graham Poll, who had a decent game in charge.

The Scotsman introduced Louis Saha, Wes Brown and John O'Shea as Sol Campbell had to be taken off after sustaining a suspected twisted ankle.

Substitute John O'Shea couldn't believe himself after lobbing Almunia from the edge-of-the-area. The Irishman didn't know how to celebrate his audacious finish.

The under performing Thierry Henry saw his cheeky overhead effort saved by Roy Carroll towards the closing stages as United held on for a famous victory.

Final Score: Arsenal 2 - 4 Manchester United
Att: 38,164

Arsenal: M Almunia, B Lauren (83 F Fabregas) , S Campbell (79 J Hoyte) , P Cygan, A Cole, F Ljungberg, M Flamini (70 J Reyes) , P Vieira, R Pires, D Bergkamp, T Henry

Manchester United: R Carroll, G Neville, R Ferdinand, M Silvestre, G Heinze, D Fletcher (61 J O'Shea) , R Keane, P Scholes, C Ronaldo (70 W Brown) , W Rooney, R Giggs (77 L Saha)

Refereed By: G Poll