It seemed to take forever, but on Sunday afternoon, 16:10pm finally fell upon Arsenal and Manchester United fans. Anticipation was rife around both sets of supporters.
Arsenal, after enjoying a good run of form, had the chance to right many wrongs at Old Trafford. The 8-2 defeat at the Theatre of Dreams in 2011 still scathes the pride and hearts of the fans. Manchester United needed to beat Arsenal and close the eight-point gap that separated them and top spot.
With the big day looming, an ill timed flu virus hit the Arsenal camp over the course of Saturday night, so, as the teams lined up to do battle on the field at Old Trafford, the Gunners made a couple of unplanned changes.
At the heart of the Arsenal defence, Per Mertesacker has seemingly gone about erecting a German shaped wall, held together with French cement, compliments of his partner, Laurent Koscielny. But his stoic performances on the pitch unfortunately couldn’t be replicated elsewhere.
Per fell ill, courtesy of the untimely flu virus, so it fell to Thomas Vermaelen to step in and take his place. Tomas Rosicky also succumbed to the virus, and so, with a little reshuffling, Mathieu Flamini took his place.
Michael Oliver lifted the whistle to his lips, and with one blow, set in motion an age-old classic that never fails to make the headlines.
Slanderous chants resonated around the stadium as two titans once again went head to head, the managers the tacticians and the men on the field the soldiers sent out to execute those tactics. Ultimately, that was exactly what it came down to, tactics, and United did it better.
Arsenal typically have two strategies when it comes to attacking the opposition. One being possession football, the other being a complete exploitation of pace. The latter this season has been affected by injuries. The three paciest weapons in Arsenal’s armoury have been sidelined for the most part of the season.
Lukas Podolski, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are the three main men that look to hurt opposition defenders with their blistering pace. With them ruled out, possession football is the go to procedure.
Possession play can be countered by a solid defensive display. Against smaller teams, the possession game almost always proves to be effective. Patient build up play including technically gifted footballers such as Mesut Özil, Aaron Ramsey and Santi Cazorla usually leaves the inevitable outcome of a goal down to nothing more than a matter of time.
Crystal Palace is a good example. They set up very well, but ultimately, the building pressure caused them to give away a penalty and, in the dying minutes, concede a goal from open play after a well-drilled Arsenal attack.
The main flaw in focusing solely on possession though, was highlighted in the game against Dortmund in Germany. They are a team held in high regards around Europe and they pressed constantly for the entire 90 minutes.
Our main saving grace that day was a defensive display that could draw comparisons to when Yeryomenko and Commissar Nikita Khrushchev were ordered to orchestrate the defence of Stalingrad.
Add that to some brilliant link up play between Özil, Giroud and Ramsey and there is your answer as to how Arsenal strutted out of Dortmund with a 1-0 win.
Against Manchester United, our possession plan was rendered useless. Ramsey, Özil and Cazorla is a midfield trio behind Giroud that lacks outright pace, but displays an incredible array of technical skill. That amount of technical ability can open up holes behind fullbacks, but without the pace of players like Walcott, that space is wasted.
Manchester United, a team whom most fear, were rejuvenated. One goal was all that separated the sides, and who should it fall to? It was the man who last season won United the Premier league.
As Wayne Rooney whipped his corner deliciously into the Arsenal penalty area, it was left to Robin Van Persie to leap up, glance his header into the far corner of the goal, and smash the hearts of Arsenal fans all over the country once again.
Old Trafford, which has hosted defeat after defeat for Arsenal in recent seasons, has once again proved to be a test to far for Arsène Wenger’s men.
The famous fixture against Manchester United has far from reached its conclusion. This result, for Arsenal fans, is just another sombre chapter in a book containing many more twists and turns. Moyes has won the first battle, but the war rages on.
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Header Photo via Edwin. 11 –Â http://www.flickr.com/photos/edwin11/