Arsenal vs. Manchester United: 5 of their best Premier League encounters

#5 Arsenal 2-4 Manchester United – February 1st 2005

United captain Roy Keane was involved in a clash with Patrick Vieira prior to a thrilling match with Arsenal in 2005

After the notorious ‘Battle of the Buffet’ in the early stages of the 2004-05 season, the Manchester United-Arsenal rivalry only grew in the return game, which saw the Red Devils take all 3 points from their encounter at Highbury by winning 2-4 after yet another fiery, bad-tempered showdown.

Things became nasty even before the first ball was kicked; United captain Roy Keane angrily confronted his Arsenal counterpart Patrick Vieira in the players’ tunnel prior to the game after the Frenchman had apparently attempted to threaten Gary Neville, the England right-back having thrown in some hard tackles during the prior meeting between the sides.

The players had to be separated by referee Graham Poll, and the bad feeling continued onto the pitch, when both sides continued to put in some reckless challenges and question seemingly every decision Poll made. This was also an action-packed game, though, with Vieira heading Arsenal in front, only for United to equalise through Ryan Giggs.

The Gunners took the lead once again, Dennis Bergkamp netting 10 minutes before half-time, but the Red Devils took command in the second half, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring twice to put Sir Alex Ferguson’s side in the lead before Mikael Silvestre was shown the red card for a bad foul on Freddie Ljungberg.

Arsene Wenger’s team were unable to hit back, though, and the game was finally put beyond them when John O’Shea found the net with a lob with only added time remaining.

After the match both sides came under fire from fans, who felt that the rivalry had gotten too big for its own good – and by the end of the season, neither side were able to claim the Premier League title. That glory went to Chelsea – who broke the United/Arsenal stranglehold on the title that had lasted for a decade.