P: United 0- 1 Arsenal
PREVIEW
Is today’s match against Arsenal a clash of the titans or a top meets bottom contest of two teams going in different directions ?
Having claimed three points over a rugged Spurs outfit and outfought Celtic in a dramatic Champions League thriller, United will expect victory over a team sitting in 17th place in the Premiership.
Cristaino Ronaldo will take his place in United’s team after being suspended for the match against Celtic and is happy to be part of the Premiership’s must-see encounter.
‘I love to play big games and this is one more,’ said the 21-year-old. ‘Arsenal is a classic game. You never know who is going to win these games. Maybe Arsenal haven’t started very well, but in the classics, you never know. They are still a great team but we have to think about ourselves and at the moment it is good for us.’
Whilst Sir Alex will look to Ronaldo and Scholes to provide the openings for Rooney and Saha, he will rue the challenge on Ryan Giggs by Celtic goalkeeper Artur Borus, that will keep United’s most in-form player out for a month.
‘It is frustrating for me, because I have really enjoyed the first part of the season and I just wanted to keep it going,’ said Giggs. ‘But you can’t just moan about it: I have to start to get myself fit.’
Arsenal have injury doubts of their own. Talisman Thierry Henry is unlikely to play and the Londoners may also be deprived of Robin Van Persie.
Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger are hardly friends but the United boss should admire his adversary’s serene conduct of an unusually pliant media.
Wenger has been at pains to stress that his team is in transition and has been allowed remarkable freedom to reconstruct the Gunners free of the withering comment and criticism Fergie has suffered since 2003. Arsenal had a dismal away record last season and have continued in similar vein this term.
Sir Alex will hope Wenger’s luck doesn’t change today.
PREMIERSHIP RESULTS: Chelsea 1 - 0 Liverpool / Blackburn 4 - 2 Manchester City / Spurs 0 - 0 Fulham / West Ham 0 - 2 Newcastle / Charlton 0 - 1 Portsmouth / Bolton 0 - 0 Middlesbrough / Everton 2 - 2 Wigan / Sheffield United 1 - 2 Reading / Watford 0 - 0 Aston Villa
MATCH REPORT…
Manchester United 0 - 1 Arsenal
Adebayor (86)
United’s early season euphoria might now give way to sober reflection after an inspired Arsenal claimed victory with a master class of attacking football.
Before the match, Sir Alex had spoken of the Premiership title being decided by the ‘six pointer’ matches between the league’s top four sides. United’s players failed to grasp the importance of this statement nor relish the task of putting 13 points between themselves and the Gunners before October.
Instead, United seemed drained of energy and ideas. Players who had looked bold and bright in sweeping aside previous opponents, were listless, second to every ball and unequal to Arsenal’s alert passing and movement.
This impoverished display was as surprising as the sight of new boy Tomasz Kuszczak in goal, a late replacement for the unwell Edwin van der Sar. The match called for experience and the Polish stopper showed he still has much to learn with a clumsy challenge on the enterprising Adebayor in the 10th minute which earned the Londoners a penalty. Kuszczak redeemed his error with an excellent save from Gilberto’s weak penalty and was later to be grateful to Paul Scholes for a goal line clearance two minutes later when Arsenal seemed certain to score.
With lines of communication between midfield and attack scrambled, United struggled to get into the game. Rooney, worryingly, was anonymous again and Saha was forced to roam ever deeper in search of the ball. Sir Alex’s men looked to the returning Cristiano Ronaldo to carry their attacking threat but found the Portuguese winger in mostly frustrating form. His free-kicks were poor. He dallied too long on the ball and was frequently caught in possession, a factor that was to be United’s undoing.
The first half belonged to the dominant visitors, who created but squandered several good chances. Arsenal swarmed forward time and again, catching United’s defenders with the swift attacks that required timely interceptions by the improving Evra, on as a substitute for Silvestre and Neville. United’s best opportunity fell to Ronaldo whose shot rebounded off the keeper.
United were no better in the second half, conceding far too much space and time to the Gunners. A Saha header which flashed past Lehmann and the post, briefly raised spirits but United could find no fluency in their forward movements.
Only Arsenal’s profligacy threatened to save United from a home humiliation, with Adebayor the chief culprit. However, an error by Ronaldo, easily dispossessed by Fabregas in midfield, allowed the forward an opportunity make amends in the 86th minute. Adebayor reacted faster than United’s static defence to seize on a marvellous through ball by the Spanish prodigy and slipped his shot past the on-rushing Kuszczak.
A late rally had substitute Solskjaer’s goal bound shot well saved by Lehmann. United poured forward in search of a draw that would have been undeserved but it was not to be. The day belonged to Arsenal.
TEAM
United: Kuszczak; Silvestre (Evra 23); Brown; Ferdinand; Neville; Ronaldo
Scholes (Carrick 78); O’Shea; Fletcher; Rooney (Solskjaer 78); Saha
POST SCRIPT
Sir Alex: ‘I think in the second half, we were a wee bit tired, but I cannot deny Arsenal deserved to win the match. We have had some good chances, first half particularly, but not enough to win the match - I don’t think we lost overall control, but in the last 25 minutes, Arsenal were much stronger.
‘It was a disappointing result, I didn’t think it was a bad performance - I think we can play better and at the end of the day, Arsenal deserved to win. We started well, but the thing that changed the game was the penalty five minutes afterwards they hemmed us in and Tomasz produced a couple of great saves.Second half was the disappointing thing for me.’
On Ronaldo: ‘He wants to make things happen and unfortunately, he lost the ball and the midfield were caught out but these things happen in football, but it could have been any player that lost the ball.’
Arsene Wenger: ‘I believe in my team and I believe we have a chance to win the championship. We are very ambitious. We want to win the championship and I believe we can, although we need performances like that and even to develop further. To miss a penalty and then come out in the second half and win the game tells you a lot about their mental strength.’
