Wayne Rooney: The Devil in Disguise?

After the disappointment of the Manchester Derby, everyone was well within their rights to expect an "upset" at Old Trafford.

Manchester United, have been faltering in form with one win, one draw and one loss in the last three games while the Gunners were, pardon the pun, firing on all cylinders.

Arsenal opted to field a slighty "under strength" team, leaving out the big guns Adebyor, Flamini and Clichy.

This would be a highly contested tie and Arsene Wenger knew that. Although left out of the starting 11, they were included on the bench (except Clichy), in case things went wrong.

With this sort of quality on the bench, if United managed to nick a goal or two, Wenger could make a sub and bring the tie back round.

United also followed suit by leaving out Giggs, Hargreaves, Tevez and, most noticeably, Ronaldo, choosing to field a slighty weakend team with Darren Fletcher and Ji Sung Park starting.

This, of course, would be irrelevant as Manchester United against Arsenal matches are always tense, aggressive and played to win, win, win!!!!

In these types of matches, a certain player needs to come to the forefront and assert himself as a player whose determination, hunger, ability and class shine so everyone can see.

That man was Wayne Rooney. Rooney played like a man possessed, running at players, creating chances, scoring and tackling. He was the complete package! Fabio Capello looked pleased and even stood up and clapped Rooney when he left the field. 

As for the match, the whole team played exceptionally well. From front to back, they were brilliant!

Even Carrick had a good afternoon, setting up two goals with inch-perfect passing to the front. Arsenal looked liked a shadow of its former self at 1-0 down.

Even with the substitutions on 70 minutes risking Adebyor's fitness, as well as Flamini's, and taking Fabergas off, who, on the whole, played poorly, Arsenal just couldn't cope, and a revival was just not in the cards. 

Match Rating - 5/5

Ref Rating - 3/5 - Should have enforced punishment on Gallas, Flamini and Troare. Arsenal could of quite easily been down to nine men!  

Team rating - Manchester United - 5/5

Van Der Sar - 7 - Very little to do, didn't have a shot to save all afternoon.

Wes Brown - 8 - Fantastic! Strong in the tackle and great in the air.

Nemajne Vidic - 8 - Another strong and reassured performance.

Rio Ferdinhand - 7 - Sometimes lets his mind wander, but a quiet afternoon.

Patric Evra - 8 - Superb! A constent threat running up and down the left wing.

Darren Flecther (Two Goals)- 8 -One goal and another dubious one for the panel. Tireless effort.

Anderson - 9 - Worked his socks off! Threatening, skillful, complete package!

Micheal Carrick - 8 - Fantastic display, set up two great goals. Needs to work on his shooting.

Nani - 9 (One Goal) - The next Ronaldo? Set a bench mark with that performance!

Wayne Rooney - 10 (One Goal ) - The rating says it all. Worked hard all afternoon. Scored a great goal, forced a couple of good saves from Lehmahn, showed true hunger, passion and desire for the game! OUTSTANDING!