Chelsea the only winners!

Arsenal 0 Man Utd 0

Following a 0-0 draw last night, you can safely say that Chelsea have retained their title belt.

On a tension-filled night at Highbury the two teams who have dominated English football for more than a decade kept up the façade of having the biggest rivalry in football with a niggly match that referee Graham Poll did well to control.

But they only succeeded in knocking each other out, with United suffering a major blow in their bid to catch Chelsea, and Arsenal dropping crucial points in their desperate bid to move back into the top four.

United, possibly, came closest to winning it when Emmanuel Eboue cleared off the line from a Wes Brown header in the 90th minute, but in the end a draw was a fair result and one that will be greeted with most enthusiasm from Stamford Bridge.

The result may well mean the end of the era, but what keeps this fixture alive as a spectacle, is the years of history and underlying tension between the teams.

Just watching pictures of players lining up in the tunnel brought back memories of last year’s infamous altercation between Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira, for instance.

Before that there was the ‘battle of the buffet’ at Old Trafford, of course, when Arsenal players, so upset at losing their unbeaten record, threw pizza at Alex Ferguson in a post-match melee. And then there was the ‘battle of Old Trafford’ when both clubs were fined for ugly battles on the pitch after van Nistelrooy missed a penalty.

There have been footballing highlights, too - and Arsenal fans regularly remind their rivals of the time they won the league in Manchester. So there was little chance of this game - the last league fixture ever between the sides at Highbury - being dull and without incident.

Arsenal started the brighter, putting together a flurry of passes in midfield that had United on the back foot almost from the very first whistle.

Alexander Hleb miss-kicked when well-placed from a Robert Pires pass before Pires himself saw an effort well saved by Edwin van der Sar.

Thierry Henry also sent a stunning free-kick narrowly wide, but United responded with a powerful spell in the last few minutes of the first half and came closest to opening the scoring when van Nistelrooy’s 16-yard drive was superbly saved, one-handed, by a flying Jens Lehmann.

It wasn’t quite the top quality fare we have been used to in the past from these teams, but the psychology of the way the fixture has altered was fascinating. And as half-time arrived with the score still 0-0 the question being asked was: Who wanted to win it more? The answer to that question is not as simple as one might think. United, of course, knew they needed to take three points to retain any interest in the title race. But with Chelsea so far ahead was Arsenal’s need greater? After all, the Gunners began the match sixth, 25 points behind Chelsea and with the prospect of starting life at their new Emirates Stadium next year without Champions League football to play there.

Alex Ferguson, never one to miss a chance to kick his rivals when they are down, begun the mind games early, launching an attack on Arsenal’s stature in the build-up to the match.

He scoffed at their plans for a new 60,000-seater stadium, suggesting they would never fill it and would never be regarded as a club the size of United. His digs also applied to Chelsea, the new boys on the block, but you got the sense that Ferguson rather enjoyed landing a killer blow on his old adversary Wenger in the process.

United certainly came out after the break in determined fashion. Van Nistelrooy struck the stancheon with one great chance, and Lehmann did well to deny the Dutchman with brave challenges on two further occasions.

Arsenal knew they had to respond and suddenly the passion and fervour reached fever pitch.

Rooney, Cygan and O’Shea were all booked, Rooney got away with a handball, Lehmann complained that van Nistelrooy trod on his toes and O’Shea vehemently accused Pires of diving.

Arsenal also had a strong penalty claim turned down when Gary Neville thumped into the side of Cesc Fabregas and sent him sprawling after 65 minutes, and then Pires came mighty close to stabbing his side ahead from an Henry pass.

It was enthralling, if a little scrappy, but United finished the stronger with Neville going close and then Brown denied right at the death.

Ding, ding. End of round two. And the winner, and still the heavyweight champion of the Premiership, is in the Blue corner.

ARSENAL: Lehmann, Lauren, Toure, Campbell, Cygan, Pires, Fabregas (Flamini 80), Silva, Hleb (Bergkamp 73), Reyes (Eboue 89), Henry.

MAN UTD: Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Brown, Silvestre, Ronaldo, Fletcher, O’Shea, Giggs (Park 73), Rooney, van Nistelrooy.

Referee: G Poll (Hertfordshire).

The Coca-Cola Football League Championship: Hull 1 Sheff Utd 3.