Match Review: Arsenal 1-1 Manchester United

What started as a moment of pride for Manchester United turned into embarrassment just two minutes after they were given the guard of honour at the Emirates as Theo Walcott slotted past David de Gea in a move which appeared offside and started with Robin Van Persie giving the ball away to his former teammates. The first half was controlled by a spirited Arsenal side and United looked out of place. But that was until Bacary Sagna fouled Van Persie inside the box and gave away a silly penalty which was brilliantly converted by the Dutchman (who else?). Referee Phil Dowd tried his best to make the clash look as heated as it used to be a decade ago, giving away 6 yellow cards in the first half and 2 more in the other half.

Perhaps it was the pressure from Spurs and Chelsea that instigated Arsenal to play aggressively as they always looked dangerous form central positions. They were good defensively too, intercepting numerous passes between United players. But United had their chances in the first half. On one such occasion, Nani broke away and crossed the ball brilliantly to Robin Van Persie who was waiting inside the box but his header struck Szczesny on the face and Arsenal survived.

Both teams looked equally attacking in the second half but Manchester United looked more dangerous. Wayne Rooney managed to head a Patrice Evra cross straight into the hands of the Arsenal No.1. Given the high pace of the game, both sets of players begin to look tired as the match entered its final 20 minutes and that’s when Arsenal introduced Gervinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jack Wilshere, while United opted for Anderson and the evergreen Ryan Giggs. The match ended with De Gea making a good save from Santi Cazorla and Giggs’ shot getting deflected wide.

In the end, points were shared and Arsenal will be happy to salvage a point against the champions while the only complaint Sir Alex Ferguson can have from his team is that now they can’t overhaul Chelsea’s record of 95 points in a PL season under Jose Mourinho in 2004-05. But the 20-time champions can still break a record of most wins in a single season by winning 3 of their last 4 games.