Arsenal were knocked out of a third competition in the space of a fortnight as goals from Fabio da Silva and Wayne Rooney saw Manchester United cruise into the FA Cup Semi-Finals.
Both teams were going through a rough patch prior to the tie. Arsenal had seen their Carling Cup and Champions League dreams snatched away by Birmingham and Barcelona, respectively, whereas Manchester United had come off two successive away defeats to rivals Chelsea and Liverpool.
United would have been relieved to be playing in front of their home crowd, but Sir Alex Ferguson had a midfield crisis to deal with. Nani and Park JiSung's injuries reduced options on the wings, with Antonio Valencia just making the bench. Add to that Anderson's absence in the centre saw Sir Alex field as many as seven defenders in his line-up with the da Silva twins playing on either flank. Darren Gibson was the sole genuine midfielder in the staring eleven with John O'Shea filling in in the middle.
Arsenal had a stronger side comparatively with Robin van Persie, Samir Nasri, AndreyArshavin and Jack Wilshere all making the cut. The Gunners started off brightly with Arshavin and Nasri mustering saves off Edwin van der Sar. United's first chance took all of 15 minutes to arrive and the Red Devils should have taken the lead through a dazzling move involving the da Silva twins. Rafael botched his brother's delivery over the bar.
But the Brazilian twins weren't to be denied longer as Arsenal were caught off guard on the break and scored through Fabio after a flowing move involving brother Rafael, Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez. Fabio could have added a second shortly afterwards, but he headed Rooney's cross wide.
Arsenal then mustered a response, with van Persie seeing his 16-yard strike tipped round at full stretch by Van der Sar.The Arsenal skipper then flashed a header wide from the corner.
Nasri had the final chance of the half, with van der Sar getting down well to pouch a save at the near post after the Frenchman had fired through the legs of Wes Brown.
Sir Alex Ferguson brought on Antonio Valencia for his first appearance in six months after the Ecuadorian broke his ankle in a horror challenge against Valencia in the Champions League. Valencia replaced a clearly out-of-gas Fabio.
It was Arsenal who pressed early in the second half though, with Van der Sar forced into an excellent double-save - first when Wes Brown turned the ball goal-wards as he tried to intercept a Laurent Koscielny cut-back, the second when the Frenchman curled a shot to the far corner with the rebound.
The onslaught did not last andwas halted by a second United goal.By sticking out a leg to stop Rafael's cross, Johan Djourou could only loop the ball high into the air.Rooney then escaped BacarySagna and glanced the ball home past Almunia.
Marouane Chamakh replaced Denilson as Arsene Wenger threw caution to the wind. But with Van der Sar producing four outstanding saves to deny the visitors, one to deny substitute Marouane Chamakh, who had been presented with a free header by Sagna, there was no way back for the shell-shocked Gunners.
On the touchline, Wenger must have had an awful sinking feeling, knowing another trophy was being snatched away from him. To add salt to the wounds, Arsenal finished with ten men after Johan Djourou had to be stretchered off following a collision with teammate Bacary Sagna. Also, Paul Scholes was denied a red card after a wild challenge on Nasri.
It was a deserved win for United, who would look to get their campaign back on track following last fortnight's crushing defeats.
For Arsenal, it was another trophy snatched away and there will be no excuses this time around unlike the game at Nou Camp last week. The Gunners will have to get over their confidence crisis, and fast, as they still have the big one - the Premier League - to look forward to.
iSport's Man of the Match: Edwin van der Sar
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... i love the way Manchester United play,it was a fantastic performance,the back pass was limited,i saw more attacking football,even though the team was dominated with defenders. A very good play keep it up.I think Arsenal will winn the Emirate cup again. |
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