Sir Alex Concedes Title After Highbury Stalemate

13 Points Behind
By Chris O'Brien
January 4 2006

Manchester United and Arsenal battled out a rather untypical 0-0 stalemate at Highbury as Chelsea continue to run-away with the Premiership crown. Gary Neville and Cristiano Ronaldo both went lose for the visitors, but neither team found the cutting edge to take all three points.

Sir Alex Ferguson was forced to concede the Premiership title to Chelsea after his side could only battle out a 0-0 draw with Arsenal in a rather lacklustre Highbury contest.

"Chelsea's consistency is beyond us. Eventually we hope to reach Chelsea's level. We do have a young team who will get better." said the frustrated United boss, after a game that hardly resembled previous fiery and passionate games between the two sides.

"You can see what's going to happen to us over the next two or three years and in the meantime we just keep going. We want to be the nearest team to Chelsea, just in case they collapse. You never know what might happen."     

The game was something of a defensive affair with both teams looking extremely cagey. With Paul Scholes absent through injury, United started with the central midfield pairing of Darren Fletcher and John O'Shea which lacked an attacking edge leaving Arsenal to enjoy more possession. Rio Ferdinand and Wes Brown both blocked efforts in a game of few chances, but it was Cristiano Ronaldo who had the best chance of the 90 minutes, sending his effort high and wide of Jens Lehman moments before the interval.

As the game went on, tired legs started to show following a hectic festive schedule. United were stronger in the second-half as the game started to open up, with Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney both causing problems within the Londoner's backline. As time ticked away, a great opportunity fell to the most unlikely of scorers as Gary Neville latched onto a Rooney pass only to slide his shot inches wide of the post. It summed up a night of frustration for both teams.

The final whistle blew to accepting groans from both sets of supporters as Chelsea continue to stampede their way to a second successive Premiership title. United became only the second team of the season to earn points at Highbury, but Sir Alex left North London less than happy with a 13-point gap separating the Red Devils and the run-away league leaders.

Attentions now turn to the F.A Cup, a competition enjoying even greater importance for both teams this year. Bring on the Burton Albion!

Full Time - Arsenal 0-0 Manchester United
Attendance - 38,313

Arsenal: Lehmann, Lauren, Toure, Campbell, Cygan, Pires, Fabregas (Flamini 80), Silva, Hleb (Bergkamp 73), Reyes (Eboue 89), Henry.
Substitutes Not Used: Almunia, Senderos.

Manchester United: Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Brown, Silvestre, Ronaldo, Fletcher, O'Shea, Giggs (Park 73), Rooney, van Nistelrooy.
Substitutes Not Used: Howard, Saha, Bardsley, Pique.