Triumph at Old Trafford

Whichever way you look at it, Arsenal’s win at Old Trafford was a triumph and all the more remarkable as it was achieved without their talisman and captain Thierry Henry.

Take possession for instance. In the first half in particular, Arsenal dominated with over 65% and United had no answer to the slick quick and imaginative passing and movement which has become their trademark. That, in turn, had an effect on the chances created. Throughout the entire match, United were restricted to three good opportunities – Lehmann bravely took the first, a powerful shot from Ronaldo, full in the face; Saha headed narrowly wide in the 59th minute and the Arsenal goalkeeper produced a miraculous fingertip save from Solskjaer with four minutes of normal time remaining.

In stark contrast, Arsenal had eleven good chances. In the first half, Gilberto’s slip allowed Kuszczak to save the penalty, Scholes cleared Adebayor’s 12th minute header off the line, Rosicky brought a tremendous save from the Manchester United keeper and a last ditch tackle from Gary Neville prevented Freddie Ljungberg rolling the ball in. After the interval Adebayor sent a rising shot narrowly over the bar, Gallas came close from Fabregas’ free kick, Ronaldo’s mistake put Adebayor through but he shot tamely at Kuszczak, Rosicky sliced wide, Kolo Toure came close, substitute Julio Baptista powered his way through and missed by inches and then, finally, a wonderful run by the magnificent Fabregas culminated in an exquisite pass for Adebayor to flick the 85th minute winner past the Manchester United keeper.

And all that was accomplished by a team which even at this early stage of the season had been written off as contenders for the Premiership by a waffle of so-called experts who are too proud or too stupid to make the necessary arrangements to have their heads examined.