O’Shea clinches massive United double over Gunners
In a match that will go down as one of the greatest in Premiership history, United stunned their bitter rivals by coming back from 1-0 and 2-1 down to win at Highbury.
"I think that puts Arsenal out of the title race. I said before whoever lost could not win the title. It was a fantastic performance from us," a jubilant Alex Ferguson said in the aftermath.
Two goals from Ronaldo, one from Ryan Giggs and a late clincher from John O'Shea made it a night to remember for Ferguson's men as Arsenal lost a home league game for the first time in 33 matches.
Not even a sending-off for Mikael Silvestre, accused of head-butting Freddie Ljungberg, could dampen United's celebrations as they completed the double over Arsene Wenger's side in thrilling fashion.
And to make matters worse for Arsenal, Sol Campbell limped off injured in the second half.
Not surprisingly, the match started at breakneck speed, and it took less than a minute for Gabriel Heinze to foul Ljungberg and cause the first rumpus. Then Ljungberg almost scored when he was just beaten to a Dennis Bergkamp through-ball by keeper Roy Carroll.
United had both Heinze and Ryan Giggs booked within the first 15 minutes. But the more important statistic came when Arsenal took the lead in the eighth minute Vieira thumping home a header from an Henry corner.
United's equaliser came out of the blue 11 minutes later.
Paul Scholes caught Sol Campbell in possession before finding Rooney with a sweeping pass and the teenager's cushioned lay-off was fired home by Giggs left-footed from 16 yards with a Cole deflection.
Then it was game-on. And after Pires had a clear-cut penalty claim turned down following a foul by Silvestre, Arsenal really livened it up.
Eventually, they went ahead for the second time after 35 minutes. This time it was a gloriously-worked goal.
Vieira, having swapped passes from a quick free-kick in midfield, chipped a pass towards Flamini, who ducked instead and allowed it to reach Henry on the D of the area.
Quick as a flash, Henry moved the ball on to Bergkamp, who strode into the area and lashed a low angled shot into the net. It was pure, textbook Arsenal.
United almost replied before half-time when Rooney raced away but was denied by a fine save from the much-maligned Manuel Almunia. And at the other end Bergkamp was kept at bay by an equally fine stop from Carroll.
There was hardly time to breathe as Rooney was booked and then, minutes later, escaped a red card for what looked like a deliberate kick on Vieira.
It was going to be hard for the second half to live up to the excitement and quality of the first but it did.
Arsenal came close to a third when Henry was put through by Ljungberg, only to be denied by Silvestre at the last minute. And Campbell headed only inches wide from another corner after 54 minutes.
But the game was turned on its head when United broke away through Giggs and the winger found Ronaldo racing down the left, unmarked. It was probably the Portuguese star's first major contribution to the game but his left-foot finish across Almunia was pure class.
The drama wasn't over, either, because within two minutes Rooney curled free-kick against the angle of bar and post.
And then the unthinkable happened United made it 3-2. This time Giggs raced down the right in the 60th minute, Almunia completely lost his bearings as he hared out of goal, and the Welshman crossed over his head from the byline for Ronaldo to force home at the far post.
More drama followed with 20 minutes to go when Silvestre was controversially sent off for an off-the-ball incident with Ljungberg. And then, remarkably, United added a fourth when O'Shea was ruled onside as he raced onto a long ball and finished exquisitely past Almunia.
ARSENAL: Almunia; Lauren (Fabregas 83), Cygan, Campbell (Hoyte 79), Cole; Ljungberg, Vieira, Flamini (Reyes 70),Pires; Henry, Bergkamp.
MAN UNITED: Carroll; G Neville, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Heinze; Ronaldo (Brown 70), Fletcher (O'Shea 65), Keane, Giggs (Saha 77); Rooney, Scholes.
Referee: G Poll.
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