Red reminder

Man United 2 Arsenal 0

Watching their side control, if not dominate, yesterday's Premiership summit at Old Trafford, the visiting Arsenal support taunted Old Trafford with chants of "USA USA" a gleeful reference to the proposed Malcolm Glazer take over bid.

But by the end of a game which United turned on its head in the final 20 minutes, razor-sharp natives might have responded with a chant of "San Francisco San Francisco" for Arsenal are now, officially, the 49ers.

That their extraordinary record-breaking Premiership run was brought to a close by the skill and cheek of Wayne Rooney was one of the afternoon's most glaring ironies.

Comparable to Pele, only if you mean the man who is currently in advancing middle age, the 19 year-old birthday boy had been virtually anonymous until he won a highly dubious penalty with a neat piece of trickery and showmanship in the 72nd minute. Sol Campbell's trailing leg offered an invitation which Rooney, until then finding no open route to goal, was not about to refuse. A split second after the most ghostly of contacts, Rooney was face down on the turf and referee Mike Reilly was pointing to the spot.

Suddenly, there were echoes of last season's controversy as Van Nistelrooy stepped forward while the Arsenal players again protested. But this time, the Dutch man found the net and instead of the ribbing of Arsenal players, received the wild acclaim of the Stretford End.

Arsenal piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser but, as often happens when one team is chasing a game, the other takes maximum advantage on the break.

Ryan Giggs had already come close, and Mike Riley's watch had ticked into stoppage time when United's vaunted embarrassment of attacking riches at last clicked in open play substitutes Saha and Smith combining to set up Rooney for the close range finish which finally stopped Arsenal one short of the major 50.

A two-goal against the best team in Britain reflects well on United's ability to dig out a result when the chips are down, but it was scant reward for the efforts of an Arsenal side which contributed much the better passages of play on a day when, generally, the physical tended to overshadow the artistic.

Minus Roy Keane, United were never able to exert control in midfield, where Edu and Vieira, with Bergkamp often dropping deep to join in, expertly controlled the tempo of the game.

But perhaps even more worrying for Alex Ferguson must be the failure of his wing players, Ronaldo and Giggs, to provide any consistent threat to Arsenal's formidable defence. In the first half in particular, most of United's crosses into the Arsenal box came from deep on the left, courtesy of their Argentine defender, Gabriel Heinze.

Until his penalty, Ruud Van Nistelrooy had also experienced little joy, his most significant impact up to that point being a crude challenge on Ashley Cole which occurred right under the nose of the linesman, but somehow went unpunished. To rub salt in his wound, a moment later it was Cole who went into the book, for a tackle from behind on Rooney.

Certainly, it was not a game for the faint of heart. Reyes, in particular, was felled so often that he spent almost as much time sitting on his backside as he did running at the United defence. Eventually, the Neville brothers followed each other into the referee's book after doubling up in quick succession on the Spaniard. On the other side, Vieira, always tough in the challenge, saw yellow for tackling Giggs.

But if the meatiness of the exchanges gave the game a compelling edge, it was Arsenal's fluent pass and move style which would have appealed most to the connoisseur.

United too, showed glimpses of what they can do when everyone gels, yet this was so infrequent that their most likely breakthrough seemed as if it would come from a set piece or as a result of the alarming uncertainty which characterised the relationship between Arsenal's central defence and their vulnerable goalkeeper, Jens Lehmann.

Still, goals win games, and the three points earned here will, at least in the short term, eclipse any concern the Old Trafford faithful might have about the less than convincing nature of the performance.

"It's a rare occasion", said one fan heading into the grounds, "99% of football is cheering for United today." Perhaps that is stretching credibility, but the Blues of west London were certainly smiling. Now just two points behind Arsenal, Mourinho's Chelsea are the real beneficiaries of this result.

Whether it marks a new beginning for Manchester United or signals a down turn for Arsenal remains to be seen.

But there's no doubt who the biggest loser of the day was. It was the glum looking Arsenal fan I saw leaving the ground, amid thunder and lightning and torrential rain, with the words "50" and "unbeaten" printed on the back of his team shirt.

Hubris is a dangerous thing and clearly the gods were with Manchester United for this one.

MAN UTD: Carroll, Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Heinze, Ronaldo (Smith 85), Phil Neville, Scholes, Giggs, Rooney, van Nistelrooy (Saha 90).

ARSENAL: Lehmann, Lauren, Campbell, Toure, Cole, Ljungberg, Vieira, Edu, Reyes (Pires 70), Bergkamp, Henry.

Referee: M Riley (W Yorkshire).