A familiar haunting

Manchester United 2 Arsenal 1

As Arsenal found out once again at Old Trafford, as they slipped to a fourth defeat in eight matches, there is nothing quite like the utter powerlessness of crushing inferiority.

Although, in a typical example of how normally sane people can decide their view on a social issue based on clubs colours, their supporters could remind van Persie of a rape case that was dropped in 2006 — not that it was an issue for them before he left the Emirates — and call him names, no Arsenal fan could accuse the Dutchman of making the wrong move.

This fixture used to decide the destination of the title. But Patrice Evra, who Wenger wrongly accused of making the most of the challenge that earned Jack Wilshere a second yellow card, was frustrated that United, now top of the table, failed to make the most of a chance to improve their goal difference.

“We won against Newcastle this season after losing there 3-0 last year and we have also beaten Chelsea after drawing last season’s game at Stamford Bridge,” Evra said. “We have won at Anfield and now we have beaten Arsenal, so it is really important for our confidence.

“After losing against Tottenham at home, we were really disappointed and we knew we had to show the fight to win the league but when you win against the big teams, you show to everyone that you are in the business.

“I think what happened last season was really important. We were really disappointed because we lost the league on goal difference.

“That’s why you can see many players disappointed about only winning this game 2-1. We respect Arsenal a lot, but we created many chances and the height of our expectation this year is to win games well.”

That was the motivation for departing from the path of signing younger players to sign 29-year-old van Persie.

Resale value seemed irrelevant when the Dutchman swept in his 10th goal of the season with his first touch after two minutes at Old Trafford.

United manager Alex Ferguson said that Wenger could run a Govan poker school after negotiating £24 million (€30m) for a player of almost 30 who had only a year left on his contract but it was also a capture that came with guarantees.

Evra compared van Persie with Ruud van Nistelrooy and added: “He is just a top-class player and you can see why United wanted him and why the gaffer worked so hard to get him.”

After van Persie fired in following Thomas Vermaelen’s dreadful clearance, Wayne Rooney even missed a penalty before Evra headed in from Rooney’s cross midway through the second period.

Chance after chance was wasted but Wilshere’s dismissal meant there was never going to be a way back for insipid Arsenal, who did pull a goal back with Santi Cazorla’s curling shot with the final kick of the match.

By then, the familiar songs asking Wenger to “sort it out”, wondering where “our Arsenal” have gone and what chief executive Ivan Gazidis does during the week had been aired.

In the context of van Persie staying, Cazorla, Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud looked solid summer purchases but Arsenal looked desperately short in every department.

The trip to Schalke tomorrow night could lead to more Champions League woe and Arsenal was so flat at Old Trafford that Wenger’s gripes about referee Mike Dean seemed ludicrous.

They are without a trophy in seven years but have never looked further away from ending that drought.

“We have to show that we are good enough,” Wenger said. “At the moment you cannot say that, because we are far away. But that’s what the target is at the end of the season.

“We have played many away games, everywhere, in many difficult places, United, City, Liverpool, Stoke, so we have many difficult away games but we are very far behind now.”

MAN UTD (4-4-2): De Gea 7; Rafael 8, Ferdinand 7, Evans 7, Evra 7; Valencia 8 (Nani 82, 6), Carrick 8, Cleverley 6 (Anderson 61, 7), Young 7; Rooney 7, Van Persie 8.

Subs not used: Lindegaard, Hernandez, Scholes, Powell, Wootton.

ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Mannone 7; Sagna 7, Mertesacker 6, Vermaelen 5, Santos 3; Arteta 7, Wilshere 7; Ramsey 5 (Walcott 52, 6), Cazorla 7, Podolski 5 (Arshavin 82, 6); Giroud 5.

Sub not used: Koscielny, Coquelin, Jenknson, Chamakh, Martinez.