Rambo sinks United

You might think that I've been a bit quiet since our match at Bolton. And you'd be right, obviously. But I wouldn't want you to think that it was only due to a bit of fatigue with the Arsenal's end of season travails. I mean, of course it is a bit to do with that, but it's also because the climax to the World Snooker Championship has been occupying my thoughts somewhat. Yes, it's true, I am that sad but, chances are, you knew that already. In summation then, the reason I haven't had much to say about Arsenal this week is purely that I haven't been paying attention to what might have been going on. However, with Manchester United in town yesterday afternoon, there was little danger of a lack of attention on my part.

Even so, it was only about twenty minutes before the match began that I began to prepare myself, emotionally, for what lay ahead of us. Oh, we can sit here and say that Arsenal's third end of season collapse in four season rendered the match meaningless, but whilst even an Arsenal victory couldn't rescue a league title which I think we all feel should have been ours, Arsenal v Manchester United always means something. Always.

The team news down the pipe was that Arsenal were as anyone would expect- apart from the omission of "El Capitan", absent due to a thigh injury. Rather than drop Nasri into the midfield and bring in Arshavin, Aaron Ramsey made his first home start in the Premier League this season. For United, we saw the usual suspects line up against us, Park, Nani, Rooney, you know the usual shower of despicable bastards. Well, I say usual, neither Scholes or Fletcher were available to try and kick their way through another ninety minutes against us. So, rather than Fergie deploying his usual midfield three to try and smother us, he had Carrick and Anderson in midfield, with Rooney tasked with dropping off Hernandez to help out. That didn't work very well for United, largely due to a magnificent performance at the base of our midfield from Alex Song. He barely gave Rooney a sniff. Even the tackle that saw Song get a yellow card was one where he won the ball. Compare and contrast with the leniency afforded Nemanja Vidic- which we will get to.

As is usual for us at home, we started on the front foot, with Walcott and Nasri coming off the flanks at pace. After 3 minutes the first chance, literally, fell to Jack Wilshere just inside the box, but with Ferdinand rushing at him, he dragged his shot just wide. Walcott then managed to find a gap between centre backs and Evra to turn a cross over the bar from close in. Next a Wilshere run and shot- again dragged across goal- came very close to finding the onrushing Walcott. Evra getting there first to divert the ball wide. All in the first 15 minutes. Whilst it felt like we were in control of the match, with Wilshere and Ramsey belying their tender years in central midfield, clear sights of Edwin van der Saar's goal were proving tough to come by. And, as is customary in this matches, despite our control, United had a great chance to hit us with a sucker punch, Fabio getting in down the right but delaying his pass long enough for Sagna to come across and make a saving tackle just as a goal seemed certain for Hernandez.

Just after the half hour, the controversy that is never far from the surface bubbled up when Walcott fizzed a delightful ball across goal. At the near post, Vidic went up with van Persie and flicked the ball away. With his hand. The same Vidic that had got away scot free with a blatant bodycheck on Wilshere on the edge of the United area earlier. Incredibly, the linesman looking down the line of the cross- and replays showed him right behind it- failed to notice either the hand above the head, or the deviation on the ball. So, no penalty and- again- no card for Manchester United's captain. Last night, Alex Ferguson was talking United not getting decisions, with a straight face apparently.

It was clear, at half-time, that our players were still raging, well van Persie particularly, at the latest injustice done to our cause and Andrei Arshavin replaced Samir Nasri for the beginning of the second half. Sagna fired a left shot wide and, at the other end, Szczesny got across his goal well to turn a Rooney free kick away from goal. Valencia replaced Anderson and, within seconds, Arsenal had the lead. Song cut out a clearance to our half, the ball went to Ramsey. Ramsey took it forward and fed van Persie, van Persie drove down the right- with bodies flying forward I was screaming at him to pass it (as if he could hear me through my TV). As with Nasri in that Barcelona match, he took his time before cutting the ball back to the unmarked, and screaming for it, Aaron Ramsey. Aaron Ramsey duly swept home, first time, his first goal of the season. Ramsey was only unmarked due to the number of Arsenal bodies occupying defenders in the penalty area- I hope that was a bit of a "Eureka!" moment for our players. Coming, as the goal did, against the team that Ramsey turned down to join us, coming against the manager that phoned Ryan Shawcross to console him (but not the player who turned him down) in the aftermath of the challenge that cost Ramsey a year of his career, it must have felt like the sweetest of moments. You'd have to have the hardest of hearts not to be delighted for him.

Arsenal have not often looked comfortable when defending a lead this season, but credit them- though United belatedly realised that this wasn't a game they were going to win just by turning up, Szczesny was largely untroubled. The biggest trauma suffered by our defence was an injury to Johan Djourou, who departed the field having fallen awkwardly. I wonder now, whether the Verminator might appear sooner than expected. The closest United came to beating Szczesny was across from the right that Hernandez narrowly failed to get on the end of. In commentary, Martin Tyler said he felt Hernandez might have thought about a sly hand. If he had, I'm sure Chris Foy would have missed it.

As United pushed on, in a fashion they haven't had to against us for some time, we looked to his them on the break but couldn't find the right pass- Wilshere just delaying too long to set Arshavin away and then van Persie curling a ball across goal to... er, nobody. We did have one more chance with van Persie looking to repeat the spectacular, narrow angle, strike with which he equalised against United in our first season out of Highbury: side netting this time. The moment that gave Fergie cause to complain about decisions came when Clichy raked a turning Michael Owen down the back of his shin with just minutes remaining. Owen collapsed theatrically, it should have been a penalty, but bearing in mind what had gone before, I don't think United could complain. Nor could they complain about the result.

A result that has, barring the most ridiculous sequence of results, come too late for our title challenge, but a result that should restore some belief in these players to finish the season as best they possibly can. In Wilshere and Ramsey's performances yesterday, we see that the future is bright for Arsenal, but I would be very wary of suggesting that that one game alone is reason enough for us to think that life without Fabregas would somehow be better. On the other hand, I've seen enough of Szczesny to know that our goalkeeping present is in safe hands with him. With the manager sending our players out to play more directly, mix it up more than we usually might, I think yesterday was cause for optimism. Cautious, maybe, but optimism none the less.

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