Arsenal 1 Manchester United 1: Tired Arsenal suffer a blip

Pires and Fletcher in mid air

On a grey cool March afternoon Arsenal kicked off towards the Clock End. The first foul was on Henry and the first shot came when Scholes broke though centrally but slipped as he shot. This was more of a battle than a game of football with neither side able to impose themselves for sustained periods. Breaks from Freddie and Henry featured early doors but no pattern of play emerged. Henry shot over as Fergusmoan was up out of his seat. Silvestre who knows Henry well also knows that holding on to him is one of the easier ways of stopping him, so he did. Freddie broke into the box but didn’t get a shot away. Ljungberg then had an angled shot saved for a corner when perhaps a ball across the face was a better option. Corners are something that we rarely capitalise on and today was no exception. Edu put Reyes through but Carroll was out well. Freddie did well to track back and unload Giggs to the delight of the West Stand.

Van Diver shoved Jens but won the corner anyway. Fletcher took it and when the ball fell to Djemba-Djemba outside the box he fired a great shot in that saw Jens pull off a great save diving to his right. Reyes was pulled up for offside in a fast move at the other end. Arsenal began to take the initiative as Pat put a neat ball through to Reyes who pulled left to make room for his shot, but Carroll was equal to it. By the time Giggs was caught offside the match was on an even keel again with neither side looking to go flat out for a goal. Maybe because United needed the points more than us we felt happy with this scenario. Edu was tripped but Poll claimed the man had played the ball. There were more headers today than is normal for Arsenal matches and in one instance Sol and Pat went for the same one when heading clear.

Henry, Reyes and Pires combined neatly before the lino flagged for an Arsenal free kick that Poll ignored. Pires won a free kick soon after, Henry took it and went for goal but won a corner. It was a good one in from Pires but the red and white shirts charging in en masse couldn’t get it on target. The rather chubby Poll needed a breather so he booked Scholes when he went charging into the back of Freddie, a fair enough card but many other similar instances were ignored by one of the most self-opinionated and egotistical referees in the history of the game. Reyes was hacked down to a chant of ‘You dirty northern/southern bar stewards’. Henry took the free kick from range and it was no problem for Carroll to hold.

A little bit of 'off-pitch' action!

Van Diver resorted to some acting because Kolo clearly had his measure. Clichy hit in a cross for Henry to try a header from range. Henry was on a good run before Keane hacked him down with no attempt whatsoever of playing the ball. A clear yellow card but not according to the inane grinning lump that is called Poll. Edu blasted the free kick well over. Neville dived in our box before Reyes pressured Keane into conceding a soft throw-in. A solid tackle from Pat on Van Diver saw the usual theatricals. Giggs found Scholes in space in our box but his kick only connected with thin air to the glee of the North Bank. Pires had a shot blocked. Henry thought he was obstructed in the area but Poll didn’t. A knee in the back on Freddie by Giggs would also have been deemed worthy of a yellow card earlier in the season, but at least we got the free kick.

Djemba-Djemba blocked off Reyes then threw a wobbly when he was penalised with the inevitable free kick. Clichy and Henry combined well down the left before Giggs had a harmless cross. Reyes had another half-decent run. Lauren fouled O’Shea wide on their left and the messy free kick from Scholes fell to Keane who shot wide from an angle. A goal less first half ended. It hadn’t been too inspiring but it had been reasonably combative.

Henry won our first free kick of the second half. Kolo stopped Van Diver at the expense of a corner, which Lehmann took high from Fletcher’s inswinger. A Van Diver cross was also easy for Jens to take. Six minutes into the half and out of nowhere, or more precisely following a short pass from Reyes, Henry hit one from a central position, a long way out. It swerved and dipped and flew over Carroll’s head and his flailing arm into the net. A goal that was worthy of winning a big match, and we thought it had. 1-0 Arsenal ‘We shall not be moved’ ‘One-nil to the Arsenal’. We followed the goal with a spell of containing football where we got a lot of players behind the ball. I’d have preferred a couple of dozen passes myself.

Henry's wonder-strike

Giggs went down in our box in front of the United fans and wanted a penalty. As usual the whinging gits in the black shirts surrounded the ref and gave him a good ear bashing. My view was from a narrow angle and not good, those closer thought it might well have been a pen. Tough shit. United were by now hoofing upfield for the hit and chase route to goal. Arsenal meantime were trying to cool things down and slow the pace. Pat to Jose won us a corner, which Pires hit in for Edu who headed well over. ‘Fergie, Fergie what’s the score?’ Jose chased everything all afternoon. Silvestre took out Reyes without receiving the deserved card. Keane crossed in on target but Jens saved comfortably. Saha replaced Djemba-Djemba as they changed to a 4-4-2 formation.

Arsenal responded with a solo run from Kolo and followed that with a great break by Gael who the saw Rob take it on, this was excellent stuff. There was more football coming from The Arsenal but United ground away and stayed in the match. Lauren and the gang worked it forward till Freddie on the right fired over a cross that neither Rob nor Jose could convert. Neville jumped into Henry but Poll was oblivious. Van Diver had a kick at Pat, which was also ok by Poll. Giggs hit in a low cross for Jens to deal with which gave him a problem with his glove that had to be replaced. Saha had a shot on the turn that went out for a throw in. Reyes was sandwiched on a run but this was fine with Poll.

Lauren won a great tackle on Giggs when he piled in at 100 miles-per-hour. Gael broke again but Pires and Jose only won a corner when a goal looked on. Fletcher was replaced by Solskjaer the much loved diving cheating little Norwegian who got Sol sent off last season. He was greeted appropriately. Van Diver tripped Henry. Silvestre fouled Freddie and Clichy tripped Saha from behind. Mr consistency awarded Gael a yellow card. Arsenal were slowing the game down instead of going for the jugular, I’m never happy with this. Solskjaer was booed with his every touch. Sol headed clear another long ball. A Solskjaer cross was easy for Jens. Pires put Freddie clear but he didn’t have the legs to make it count and ended with a sort of shot. Solskjaer at the near post had a shot blocked by Jens as Fergie fumed on the bench. Cygan replaced Freddie before Jens went walkabout but Kolo saved things by way of conceding a corner.

Goalscorer Henry shields the ball from Wes Brown

An angled shot from United’s wide left nearly took West’s head off as he attempted to turn in back across goal. We were on the defensive, sitting back too much and too deep, by now we were relying only on fast breaks. Scholes shot into the side netting. Dennis replaced the very obviously tiring Pires before Saha equalised with a ball across the face of goal from their right that Van Diver missed. 1-1 and seriously deflating, we’d played the better football but failed to take the game to them when we were on top. That’s the price you pay. Adams and co would have hung on, but Adams and co were part of a defensively minded team. The fouls continued and the game continued to swing back and forth. Giggs found Van Diver whose header was saved and with minutes remaining Lauren was set up with a golden chance to clinch the points. I have no idea how he didn’t score or how what seemed to be Henry’s follow up header went wide. Not that I’m going to slag Lauren off though, because I think it’s wonderful that an Arsenal full back is good enough, and ambitious enough to get in a scoring position at the end of a big match.

Three minutes added time saw a frustrated Giggs hack down Dennis before the baby-faced cheat kicked the ball at Dennis by way of supporting the man with a doormat for a chest. The final whistle saw United remain twelve points in arrears with one less game to play. Chelski being the only winners on the day, but they still have to play Manure and we have a week to rest up or play pointless International friendlies.

A brilliant record breaking run which started against Everton and continued with Boro, Villa, Manchester City, Pompey, Manure on St Keown’s day, the Newkie Broons, Pool, Bluescum, Charlton, Leeds, Scum, Brum, one f in Fulham, and Leicester, Blackburn, Bolton, Wolves, Saints, Everton again, Boro again and again, Villa, the real Mancs, wobbly Wolves, Saints, Chelsea Charlton, Blackburn, Bolton continued against Merchandise United and gave us a new record. This of course has been a blinding achievement, but disappointing on the day as I’d rather have had three points off United.