Manchester United 0 Arsenal 0
On the surface some respectability and credibility was regained here.
But Man United were set up to contain, get a point and win the title, and able to rest players before the Champions League Final.
They were there for the taking in some ways. And a win would have been a great and deserved tonic for the fans.
Arsenal at times camped in the area between the half-way line and United’s 18-yard box, playing keep-ball. And the performance was good, apart from a strong cutting edge. But in many ways it was a microcosm of what is wrong this season.
Djourou was injured the day before, so Song went back into the central defence and had a good game. One question not asked at the ‘Shareholders(?)’ meeting with Arsene Wenger on Thursday. Why do Arsenal players get so many injuries? Do too many players go away on international duty? On average this season Arsenal are nearly always in the top quartile of teams with the number of injured players.
Tony Adams has said that “Arsenal aren’t good enough to play open”, and that was illustrated today. Although the overall performance was good, several Arsenal players were all guilty of passing straight to red shirts. And most times it set United up on a fast and dangerous counters with Arsenal short of numbers in defence and going forward.
Ronaldo bore down on goal in the first minute. Gibbs was caught a bit short, but instead of firing at Fabianski he checked back and it was cleared.
Arshavin – the Arsenal team looks so much more threatening with the Russian in the side – cut back for van Persie – the lone striker in a 4-5-1, but he missed his shot completely.
Fabregas put in a tester over the bar.
Arshavin, popping up on the other side, put in a perfect cross, but van Persie, aware of Vidic in the corner of his eye tried a header, instead of controlling it, but it went well over.
Carrick, who Wenger declined to buy for £3m because Vieira was in his last year, tried to float balls in between the centre backs and Sagna. Rooney connected with one ball, but headed wide.
Sagna found himself in good positions on the right, but his crossing was poor.
Vidic had van Persie in his pocket most of the game and the Dutchman ended up on the floor several times, with none of the physical contact incidents deemed a foul.
The best Arsenal chance was set up by tricky wing play from Arshavin, who cut it back for Nasri to fire wide. Van Persie tried to re-direct it, but to no avail.
Ronaldo had a couple of free kicks – both wide.
In the second, there were feint memories of Pizzagate, as Fabregas clattered into Evra [maybe serves him right for calling the Arsenal team boys and babies]. Players gathered in a melee and the Spaniard got booked. Nasri followed suit with a foul on his fellow Frenchman.
On one Arsenal attack, an age-old problem re-surfaced. No-one was in the box.
Wenger brought on Bendtner and Walcott, strangely for Arshavin and Nasri – the two best chances of a goal.
And, sure enough, Arsenal’s goal threat diminished.
Walcott didn’t impose himself. And when he got it, he passed straight to a red shirt and then ran into a cul-de-sac.
In the final few minutes Arsenal pressed, as the home crowd and players became nervous. Song ran through and set up Fabregas who hit the base of the post. Van Persie had a free kick headed out by Carrick. And the Dutchman’s late turn and shot in the box was the first Arsenal strike on target in the whole 90 minutes, despite 60% possession.
That control would have all been undone had one Ronaldo free kick swerved away from the top corner instead of towards it, with Fabianski an onlooker.
So Man United go from strength to strength, drawing level with Liverpool with 18 league titles.
From what Arsene Wenger says, it looks like he will buy defensive in the Summer. But on this performance he needs a better cutting edge up front, as well.
Manchester United: Edwin Van der Sar, John O’Shea, Nemanja Vidic, Jonathan Evans, Patrice Evra, Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick, Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney (90) Carlos Tevez (67). Substitutes Oliveira Anderson (90) , Ji-Sung Park(67). Unused: Tomasz Kuszczak, Gary Neville, Oliveira Anderson, Paul Scholes, Rafael Da Silva, Dimitar Berbatov
Arsenal: Lukasz Fabianski, Bacary Sagna, Kolo Toure, Alex Song, Kieran Gibbs(77), Denilson, Abou Diaby, Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri (70) Andrey Arshavin (69) Robin Van Persie. Substitutes: Theo Walcott (69), Emmanuel Eboue (77) Nicklas Bendtner (70). Unused: Aaron Ramsey, Mikael Silvestre, Carlos Vela