Sunday Treat

When the best two football teams in the country met at the Emirates Stadium there was a hell of a lot to play for. Could United exact revenge for their earlier defeat at Old Trafford, and in the process extend their lead over Chelsea at the top of the Premiership to a massive 9 points? Would they be the first side to beat the Gunners in their splendid new home? Or would Arsenal demonstrate that their young team are genuine candidates for honours by doing a precious double over their rivals?

If the first five minutes was anything to go by, Arsenal fans were in for a shock. With 80% possession, Manchester United simply ran the show and the home side hardly got a touch. Quite simply, they ‘out-Arsenaled’ Arsenal. So much so that it was fully 10 minutes before the home side mounted a serious attack, but after that the game gradually evened out. A wonderful cross from Emmanuel Adebayor set Thierry up in front of goal, but his header was easily saved by Van der Saar, then three minutes later Gary Neville brought the Arsenal captain down and tried so hard to look innocent that everyone except Steve Bennett, whose opinions tend to be unreliable at the best of times, thought it was a penalty. And at the other end Jens Lehmann produced two world class saves – the first from a Rooney volley bound for the top corner and the second from Larrson’s header.

The second half belonged to Arsenal, both territorially and psychologically, because they were undaunted even by United taking a shock lead when Evra’s brilliant run produced a cross that was deflected by Kolo Toure and headed home at the far post by Rooney. In the end, a brilliant team with five players over 30 was beaten by the skill and the spirit of a brilliant team with one player over 30, four in their early-20s and one teenage genius. With seven minutes to go, Rosicky’s cross was dummied by Henry for Robin Van Persie to power past Neville and fire high into the net for the equaliser, and in added time a crisp one-two with Rosicky allowed Eboue to tailor a perfect cross for Thierry Henry to head the winner and send the Emirates into leaping seething delight.