Arsenal 2-1 Manchester United: We All Love Arsene Wenger Again

In yesterday's article I said that Arsenal versus Manchester United is never just any old game and how today's encounter proved it.

Once again the form book went out the window as Arsenal emerged 2-1 winners over their fierce rivals.

Arsene Wenger had a depleted squad to pick from with Emmanuel Eboue and Emmanuel Adebayor joining long term absentees Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo in the treatment room. Robin van Persie served the first of his three match suspension following his sending off against Stoke.

Almunia, Walcott, Gallas and Silvestre were all fit to start the match with former United man Mikael Silvestre keeping his place at the back at the expense of Johann Djourou.

The North London side started with Almunia, Sagna, Gallas, Silvestre, Clichy, Fabregas, Denilson, Diaby, Walcott, Nasri and Bendtner while Manchester United had pretty much a full team to pick with Ferguson opting to start with Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Ronaldo, Anderson, Carrick, Park, Rooney and Berbatov.

Arsenal went ahead through a deflected shot from Samir Nasri in the 22nd minute who doubled the home side's advantage three minutes into the second half with a powerful finish from Fabregas' pass.

The Emirates was in dreamland and Wenger and his team finally got the support they deserve.

However, it was not all plain sailing in this encounter with Manchester United creating their fair share of chances.

The Gunners lost Almunia in the 78th minute to an injury following an earlier accidental collision with Michael Carrick and his replacement Fabianski was beaten in the 90th minute by a volley from United substitute Rafael.

However, the Gunners held out for all three points, sending the stadium into rapturous celebrations and putting a big smile on the Le Boss' face.

This was just the performance the home side needed and for now they have silenced their critics whilst also keeping in touch with the top two and regaining third place from Manchester United who have a game in hand.

No-one will say it was a perfect Arsenal performance, with Nicklas Bendtner guilty of missing some good chances, but it is three points against last years' Champions and contenders.

Expect to see a lot more jerseys with Nasri on the back, expect to see a lot of Arsenal fans with big, huge grins on their faces.

But let us not be complacent. Yes, it was a great win but the key for the team is to take the confidence from this game into the coming weeks. Otherwise this win will be for nothing.

However, let us savour for the moment for now.

As for Manchester United, Sir Alex can take positives from the play of substitute Rafael who did well, not alone in scoring the goal but with a good all round performance.

However, Gary Neville had a day that he would rather forget and I'm sure Ferguson may want a word with his £30m signing Berbatov who said pre-match that "running around is not my style". Enjoy training on Monday Berba!!

Some "experts" on the radio were saying United were tired from their exploits on Wednesday in the Champions League.

Just sounds like "excuses" and "whinging" to me!