Manchester United-Arsenal: Red Devils Romp in FA Cup

At Old Trafford on Saturday evening, Manchester United hosted league leaders Arsenal in the FA Cup Fifth Round.

As the team sheets were announced, all was clear that both teams were fielding "weakened" sides to give their main stars plenty of rest in preparation of the midweek return of the Champions League.

United started without Hargreaves, Ronaldo, Scholes, Giggs, Tevez. Sir Alex opting to give players like Nani, Anderson and Fletcher a run out.

Arsenal left out Adebayor amongst others, which was obviously in preparation for their game against Milan next week, with Arsene Wenger even commenting that he did not even want to use ANY subs if he didn't have to.

Fourteen minutes in and United made the break through courtesy of a returning Wayne Rooney. A corner which Vidic tried to connect with was cleared only as far as Anderson. He flicked the ball back into the mix, for Rooney to head past Lehmann from close range.

This early goal for United would go a long way to settling down some edgy nerves, and to be honest from that moment on the play was completely dominated by the Red Devils. In fact only four short minutes later a cross from Nani found Fletcher's head at the near post, and with a little help from William Gallas, the ball was once again nestled in the Arsenal goal. 2-0 and the crowd was going crazy!

United fans couldn't have wished for a better start to the game.

More chances followed and on 37 minutes. A great pass found Nani, who took one touch to control the ball and volleyed beautifully past Lehmann. 3-0 and the game was now beyond doubt. The attacking play from United was sheer perfection and Arsenal simply had no answers.

Shots of a furious Wenger in the dugout, show that he was clearly not happy with his team, and the United fans were in full voice with chants of "Who Are Ya! Who Are Ya!" ringing around all sides of the Theatre of Dreams, followed by more chants of "That's Why We're Champions!"

The Arsenal players and fans alike must have been very relieved to hear the half time whistle.

Emmanuel Eboue was sent off on 49 minutes as the home side showboated their way through the second period.

Nani, Evra, and even Van Der Sar each took their turn to show off and embarrass Wenger's men even further and on 76 minutes, the Arsenal fans began to leave.

Arsenal's performance went from bad to worse, and even Adebayor (subbed on) was booked for a blatant dive in United's penalty area.

Darren fletcher grabbed a second goal late on to make it 4-0 (another headed goal courtesy of a Nani cross) 

This clinical United performance was a clear combination of lingering embarrassment from last Sunday's derby defeat paired with the need to prove a point to the league leaders that United will fight to the end on all fronts.

Wayne Rooney was the eventual man of the match with Nani coming in a close second. It is frightening to think how good United can perform even without some of the big names included in the squad, and we'll have to wait and see if fate will deal yet another Premiership side as opposition in the Quarter final's.

Congratulations to Sir Alex Ferguson's men on probably their most impressive win this season!