Arsenal vs. Manchester United, 28 Mar 2004, Highbury, English Premier League

CRAFT VS. GRAFT by Aaron Wong

Arsenal is now officially on the longest ever unbeaten start to a season, never mind that the season is already 30 games old and winding to a close, with little doubt where the Barclaycard English Premiership trophy is going to spend its summer. Arsenal again underlined what a potent attacking threat they are, even without the guile of Dennis Bergkamp, as they probably broke the speed limit with speed demons Thierry Henry and Jose Antonio Reyes up front. Sir Alex Ferguson also had a few tricks up his sleeve, as Louis Saha started on the bench, with Cristiano Ronaldo nowhere to be seen. These two players were the ones expected to give the Gunners their biggest test, but United lined up with young Darren Fletcher and Eric Djemba-Djemba instead.

This game was a showcase of everything English about the game, featuring the two most dominant sides in recent years, an electric pace, full-blooded tackles, as well as the odd disputed penalty or so.

As expected, both sides exploded from the blocks, looking to go straight for the jugular and stun their opponents with an early goal. There was always the realisation that United are out of their depth this season, and would need to take their chances clinically if they were to glean anything from this match. United started brightly enough, and as early as the third minute, a hopeful ball from Gary Neville gave Scholes a half-chance as Kolo Toure misread the pass. Scholes had to hit a snap-shot on the turn with his left foot before the ball squirmed away, while running at full tilt. It was as difficult as it sounded, and the shot failed to trouble Jens Lehmann.

From then on, it was no exaggeration to say it was one-way traffic, as Arsenal simply chased everything that moved. Quite simply, United panicked.

Fredrik Ljungberg was put through in the eighth and seemed certain to score on his favoured right foot, before Wes Brown impudently stepped in to make a goal-saving tackle. This was but the first of numerous situations where the much-maligned England international was authoritative in snuffing out the Gunners’ cannon.

But the gaps still prevalent in the United rearguard yawned open again as Ljungberg was left free on the right side of the penalty area, as Mikael Silvestre got conned into anticipating a cross from the Swede, and only a smart save by Roy Carroll at his near post saved Silvestre from further embarrassment.

United were by now in sixes and sevens, as they couldn’t even string simple passes together. Reyes was again put through, and Carroll rushed out and smothered at the Spaniard’s feet, justifying Ferguson’s faith in him. The Red Devils have always possessed a scorpion’s sting in their tail though, and on one rare foray into the Arsenal box, they won a corner from Ryan Giggs’s perseverance. Where once was Señor Beckham raking a pinpoint pass for Scholes to volley, this time Fletcher found Djemba-Djemba. He looked to have lost control of the ball, but as Vieira advanced to close him down, he coolly flicked it over the Frenchman with his right foot, and struck a venomous shot with his left. A moment of skill to light up the match, certainly, but for Arsenal to go a goal behind would’ve been a heresy. Lehmann saved comfortably to his right, and now Arsenal could resume their dominance.

Henry continued to be United’s tormentor-in-chief, and Arsenal’s fluency was clearly beginning to unsettle the United midfield, clearly not used to being out-passed, outwitted and outplayed. Scholes got himself needlessly booked as he unceremoniously shoved Ljungberg in the back, with the Swede barely out of his own penalty area.

There was palpable fear among the visiting support as the Premiership’s leading scorer stepped up to take a 25-yarder after Neville’s mistimed tackle on Reyes. Where once United held the trump card in these situations in David Beckham, now Henry has opposing defensive walls on tenterhooks. Henry’s shot lacked pace though, and Carroll was able to gather comfortably.

Ryan Giggs was the only real threat as far as Arsenal were concerned, and in the 35th minute, the Welshman popped up on the right flank, skinned Gael Clichy for pace, and rolled a pass on a plate for Scholes to finish. The ginger-haired one, so often clinical for United and England in the penalty box, completely miscued the shot. It just wasn’t happening for the Red Devils. Barely five minutes later, a lightning Henry raid left the United defence flat-footed as he came one-on-one with Carroll. With the home crowd ready to celebrate, Henry chose to go for the Hollywood finish, pushing the ball past Carroll, then needlessly throwing himself to the ground theatrically. King Henry had granted United clemency, as the teams went into half-time with the stalemate unbroken.

Only a combination of wayward Arsenal finishing and a charmed United defence only just hanging on contrived to keep Arsenal’s predators at bay. Arsene Wenger had every right to look smug at half-time, his gamble on Reyes’s pace looked to pay off sooner rather than later. And we were wondering why Ferguson kept the lightweight and inexperienced Fletcher on the pitch instead of seasoned campaigner Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. We could only wonder at half-time.

But Henry denied us even the comfort of wondering. Five minutes after the restart, he reminded us why he’s a shoo-in for Player of the Year, with a flash of Gallic brilliance. A neat interchange between him and Reyes left Henry with space to take aim 25-yards from goal. No backlift, no fuss, and an absolute thunderbolt flew past Carroll.

Memories came flooding back of Batistuta against Bosnich for Fiorentina just a few years back. United were stunned. After all the hard work to get to half-time goalless, this. United began to throw their men forward in search for goals.

In the 53rd minute came the game’s talking point. A cross-field pass from Silvestre found Giggs in glorious isolation on the right against Sol Campbell. As Giggs blazed past the leaden-footed England man, Campbell lost his balance, and tapped Giggs’s ankle while falling down. Giggs went down in the penalty area, and the crowd was wondering free-kick or penalty. Referee Graham Poll had other ideas though, and gave a goal-kick. Cue livid United remonstrations.

This seemed to galvanise United, and it became a furious exchange of thrust and counter-thrust as United pressed forward, with Arsenal’s searing pace now something they’d worry about later. United’s burdensome movement was becoming more evident as a collective failure than just a few out-of-form players, and their despondence was only unpunished by Arsenal’s amazing reluctance to kill off the game.

United’s doggedness, for so long their hallmark, was again rewarded late on, as Arsenal were duly punished for trying to defend their slender lead.

Solskjaer’s blitz down the right led to a tantalising pass across the six-yard box. An out-of-sorts van Nistelrooy missed the ball completely, but at least he took Toure along for the ride, and Saha was at the far post to tuck home his fourth goal since his move from Fulham.

But it would’ve been an anti-climax for the match to end so relatively straightforwardly. Stung into action. Arsenal poured forward against a distracted United defence. Henry created a shot out of nothing three minutes from time to test Carroll, but it was just to warm him up for what was to come in the 91st.

Gilberto shot when Henry was better placed, but Carroll parried the shot. As the ball bounced free, Henry pounced. Fortunately for United, it was with his head, and the ball whizzed past the post. United escaped, but it would’ve been an injustice for the way they came back.

The highly entertaining encounter pitted Arsenal’s craft against United’s graft, and it ended honours even at 1-1. But it seems United can no longer compete on an even keel.

How fitting that as Arsenal broke the record for the longest unbeaten start to a season, United are but a side note to their achievement, for they were powerless to prevent Arsenal from reaching that milestone.