Wait goes on for Arsenal
Unlike the Londoners’ defeat in Barcelona, the stats did not tell the story of this match, which could prove pivotal in how the Premier League title race pans out.
How long can we be expected to wait for Arsenal? There is only so long that potential can be discussed without having to assume that, actually, this is just their level, that they are a rudderless group of could-be’s.
Put it like this, if the shoe had been on the other foot on Saturday and Arsenal had had to start the match with seven defenders, they would not have put in the same kind of stubborn and ruthless performance United managed.
Alex Ferguson’s side staggered into the weekend on the back of three miserable halves of football, chucking away a lead at Chelsea and then being swatted aside by Liverpool.
Arsenal had suffered the pain of losing the Carling Cup final to Birmingham before the misplaced grievance at being dumped out of the Champions League in Catalonia and, with no trophies since 2005, another chance bit the dust in Manchester on Saturday.
The Premier League remains the only opportunity and Wenger maintains that if the title comes down to United’s trip to the Emirates on May 1, it will be Arsenal’s year.
“I question myself always, don’t worry about that if that is your worry,” Wenger said. “If I listened to everybody then it is a miracle that we are playing for the title with 10 games to go.
“So we will not want to answer this question because nobody in England believed we could even fight for the top four. The fact we are in the position we are in, I think deserves a lot of credit.
“We have steel, I don’t question that. We played Wednesday against Leyton Orient, Saturday against Sunderland, Tuesday against Barcelona with 10 men and now against Man United.
“It’s been very difficult for the players, but the players have never shown any sign of weakness mentally. They have put absolutely every effort in and can only be proud of how much they did fight. We need to work to recover.”
Ferguson being Ferguson, the United manager had not really given much of an indication in the build-up of exactly how stretched his squad was but he came up with a system that worked.
A wrecking ball midfield has worked against Arsenal in the past, with Phil Neville enjoying particular success against Wenger’s men, and it did so again.
Rafael and Fabio showed just how talented they are by impressing in advanced midfield roles and even Wayne Rooney was playing just in front of the central four, with United getting bodies behind the ball.
When Arsenal did find a way through, they could not get past the outstanding Edwin van der Sar, who has reiterated that he will not go back on his decision to retire at the end of the season.
Back-up goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard tweeted that the Dutchman’s performance was like “science fiction”.
From the second the teams were announced, it was expected that the visitors would have all of the ball, but they did not know what to do with it, before United took the lead with their first attack.
From an Arsenal corner, Ferguson’s side broke, Rafael guided the ball out to Fabio on the right and he laid the ball off for Rooney.
The forward clipped a cross into the area and Javier Hernandez’s header was pushed away by Manuel Almunia, only for Fabio to tap in to an empty net.
The visitors were rarely able to force their way into the United area and after Van der Sar pulled off a fine double save from Laurent Koscielny, the hosts went down the other end, Rafael slipped past Kieran Gibbs, his cross was blocked by Johan Djourou and Rooney headed in from close range.
And, other than Djourou going off on a stretcher with a shoulder injury that ends his season, that was that.
Ahead of Marseille, the return of Antonio Valencia after six months out with a broken ankle was a significant boost, while Ferguson, who had claimed Nani would not play again this month, may have the Portuguese available at some point this week.
With two cup final defeats behind him, Rooney is desperate to go all the way to Wembley and is unsure what this defeat will do to Arsenal.
“It is great preparation for Marseille. After two defeats this was always going to be a difficult game, to beat Arsenal in such a big game is a great result for us,” he said.
“You don’t know how they’ll respond — it’s obviously been a tough week, a tough 10 days to go out of three competitions. But we know that they’ll be fresh now for the Premier League games and they won’t have to focus on other competitions, which we will.
“In some ways it’s good for them and in some ways if they want to win trophies it’s not so good for them.”
As the clock wound down, the United fans sang, ‘One more year’ time and again.
It was really a plea to Van der Sar but it could also have been aimed at Arsenal.
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