Full Time: Man Utd 2-0 Arsenal

Fairly predictable really considering Utd’s home form and Arsenal’s miserable performances in the league recently. Toothless describes Arsenal pretty well and Utd’s 2nd XI wanted it more.

Very disappointing but now we can pull out the “We’ll focus on the league” excuse. I didn’t mind not winning the FA Cup, or going out to Utd, but to a) lose like that, and b) lose at this time, I feel really let down as a fan.

And that’s about it, folks.

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Final thing is the FT Stats (Man Utd v Arsenal) Shots 11-20 On target 6-9 Fouls 6-4 Duels Won 52%-48% Passing accuracy 81%-88% Possession 40%-60%

Thanks for reading, I hope you’ve enjoyed following my updates – leave a comment in the blog below to tell us what you think about the game, or about the updates!

Over and out.

Scholes should be off. Utd should be 3-0 up.

Scholes goes flying in once, gets booked. Then again, before shoving Chamakh in the face, escapes without a booking. Then he passes to Rooney who has been brilliant and his ball across finds Hernandez but his shot is well saved by Almunia.

And there goes another chance. Sagna (Who has been excellent) whips it into the near post and Rosicky misses the ball half a yard out.

There will be 8 added minutes at Old Trafford. C’MON ARSENAL!

Aaron Ramsey slots in at CB. This should be interesting..

Arsenal seem to have given up – very wasteful up front as ever.

Djourou comes off, but there’s no one to replace him.

Arsenal will go on with 10 men, and there will be at least 5 seconds minutes of injury time, since we’re at Old Trafford and it took him so long to get up (Was on Oxygen apparently).

Oh blimey.

Djourou has a neck brace on. Shit.

Utd hit Arsenal on the counter again and brilliant ‘keeping denies them a third through Hernadez. Rooney cuts it back inside the area and the shot is deflected up but Almunia claws it off the line.

MAN DOWN – Djourou receiving some treatment – generally been good today but for me takes fault for the first goal.

Arsenal’s best chance of the game comes and goes.

Sagna whips a brilliant cross in and Chamakh’s header down is saved really well by VDS.

About time.

Arshavin off, Rosicky on.

Ramsey on (For Diaby?)

Now Utd on top – Diaby loses it and fails to run and catch up with it. Rooney has a shot deflected and wide for a corner which is cleared.

Van der Sar is a brilliant keeper, huh?

Chamakh hits a decent shot from the edge of the box and VDS saves and does well to hold on.

Van Persie goes close with a curling effort that doesn’t quite dip and curl enough. I get the feeling Utd are tiring a little as Arsenal find a little bit of space and some gaps. Still not enough movement from the away side. though..

Giggs on for Rafael.. and he’s denied a goal by a brilliant Gibbs tackle. Proper last ditch stuff (Why didn’t we do that in the first half?)

…But it’s straight off the wall.

Man Utd literally have ten men behind the ball. Robin van Persie wins a freekick in a dangerous position – we need this to go in, really.

Diaby takes the Song position while Van Persie takes the Cesc role…

Sums up Diaby’s role that. Van Persie chips a ball forward which Nasri can’t control and breaks to Diaby on the edge of the area – he skies it high, wide & not so handsome.

Chamakh on. Denilson off.

Diaby just doesn’t understand his role this match at all.  Arshavin still very lethargic and Arsenal need some inspiration..

Arshavin walking back on the halfway line while Gibbs tries to deal with Valencia and Rafael. Ramsey on please. Chamakh warms up.

Really good header from almost on the byline by Rooney but Sagna should clear off the line and Almunia is in no man’s land.

Great Save! Koscielny gets forward and into the area but is hesitant and tries to cut it back for Van Persie.. It comes off a Utd defender and back to Koscielny whose shot is really well saved.

Goal: Man Utd counter attack and Rooney scores. 2-0 and that’s a real blow to Arsenal..

42% of Arsenal’s attacking play has come down the right hand side of the pitch.

That stat from Orbinho (Arsenal stat man on twitter) just shows that we’re lacking a bit of inventiveness for me – trying to give Nasri the ball, and not being allowed to go through the middle thanks to excellent midfield and defensive work.

Utd will be happy to soak up pressure and hit us on the counter again as the second half gets away and Antonio Valencia is on the pitch to provide some extra pace in place of Fabio da Silva.

Diaby was criticized (wrongly in my opinion) after Barcelona. I thought he brought a physical aspect to a nervy midfield and was able to play way out of trouble under pressure.

Here, though, he’s been poor. Wilshere keeps having to move forward into the more advanced position and when he doesn’t, either Nasri or Arshavin do which means we lose a threat out wide.

Ramsey’s incisive passing and style (being similar to Cesc) would be useful here I think. We’re in a similar situation as against Sunderland, but we’re losing…

Completely agree with @LadyArse on twitter:

Halftime United 1 Arsenal 0 and the most typical United/Arsenal match you are likely to see, we have all the ball, they have all the goals

Pretty disappointing from Arsenal – Arshavin had a moment in the first 5 minutes but since then has looked lethargic and not especially bothered. He’s given the ball away cheaply and not really running to catch up with loose balls at the moment.

The good news is Utd’s side aren’t the strongest and hopefully Arsenal can use their technical advantage to try and really put Utd up against it. At the moment, I feel like it might need a bit of magic from Nasri or Arshavin to draw us level because Wenger isn’t the type to hand out hairdryers at half time…

Nasri shifting more and more into the centre as Arsenal try and create some more chances – he plays in RvP, whose shot is saved and he heads wide from the resulting corner.

Some nice quick feet and dummying on the edge of the box, but Nasri isn’t really making much ground inside the area. Been our best player so far, though as Utd continue to play 30 yard balls over the top and Almunia deals with them.

Goal (1-0 Utd): Fabio scores for MUFC – they counter attack down the right with Rafael, then Djourou completely loses Hernandez whose header is saved, but goes straight to Fabio and he can’t miss from 3 yards out.

Possession so far Man Utd 34% Arsenal 66%

Both sides happy to get it wide, Utd are more direct with Gibson and O’Shea sitting fairly deep and trying to play it through to Hernandez whenever they get it. Rooney keeps dropping back and I’m not sure that’s doing much good – it just limits Utd’s more creative options in the final 3rd.

Rafael goes close with a header he probably should’ve done better with. Fabio gets down the left and whips it in but Rafael heads over with Gibbs not doing his job properly.

Arsenal’s midfield needs more discipline, lots of possession/passing, but still don’t really look that strong.

Lots of swapping in the Arsenal midfield, as you’d expect with Wilshere driving on into the ‘Cesc Role’ at times. That’s part of his game, though and doesn’t mean Diaby has permanently dropped back!

Arshavin playing very narrow, linking up with Wilshere and Van Persie while he gives Gibbs space down the left to run free. He must track back, though.

Diaby is indeed playing in the ‘Cesc Role’ behind Van Persie, so ITV were wrong!

As expected from Utd, a 4-4-2 with Rooney and Hernandez up front and the Brazilian on the wings.

Arshavin has a shot save and held after he cuts inside and plays a one-two with Van Persie.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger on what he expects from Manchester United in their FA Cup quarter-final: “They always play always against us with a very tight midfield, try to put pressure on us from midfield, and in December (in the Premier League) they had only Wayne Rooney up front, so I think they always set up against us to defend well. However, I wouldn’t say they are scared. They have no reason to be scared because they have enough experience.”

According to the TV graphics, Wilshere starts in the ‘Cesc role’ while Diaby takes the ‘Song role’.

If this game has to go to a replay, that game will be scheduled for next friday…

OK – The Live Blog will now automatically refresh every 30 seconds, so you have no excuses!

MUFC Subs: Kuszczak, Giggs, Scholes, Obertan, (Joshua) King, Valencia (Welcome Back), Berbatov.

AFC Subs: (James) Shea, Rosicky, Squillaci, Ramsey, Eboue, Clichy, Chamakh

- Strong bench for MUFC, then, with plenty of experience, unlike Arsenal’s whose big names are Clichy and Chamakh. Hopefully Ramsey can get some playing time.

- Both sides name a Reserve player among their subs bench – Joshua King is a young striker from their academy, while James Shea is Arsenal’s Reserve team stopper, on the bench today after he was recalled from his loan at Southampton.

Ix has compiled this neat graphic for our starting line up today. This might be the starting formation, and based on recent matches would probably make the most sense:

The big danger of course is Arsenal’s high line being exploited. Rooney seems to be just about coming into form, and Hernandez has the pace and skill to cause us real trouble if we push up too high.

Hopefully though, Arsenal can draw Utd’s midfield out of position and hit them on the counter, while cutting off the supply to the tricky Mexican and Rooney.

Fergie says Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher are injured and have “no chance”of playing against Marseille on Tuesday (Dan Taylor… Again)

Seven (!) defenders in Man Utd’s team to play Arsenal today: VDS, Rafael, Smalling, Vidic, Evra, Fabio, Brown, O’Shea, Gibson, Rooney, Hernandez. (via The Guardian’s Dan Taylor)…

That looks to me like a 4-4-2: I expect the Brazilian twins (Fabio and Rafael) to start on the wings, and O’Shea to accompany Gibson in the centre of midfield.

Very interesting from Ferguson, who will presumably look to close down Arsenal’s space in midfield, and try to exploit the inexperienced partnership of Wilshere & Denilson (If that is how we play) and Arsenal high wing backs.

You’d assume good news for Arsenal with a line up that on paper doesn’t look as strong as Arsenal’s and a 4-4-2 formation that should leave an extra man free in our midfield, but at Old Trafford, you can never underestimate any Utd side.

So while we try and work out what formation Ferguson is going to pick (4-5-1, or 4-4-2? – Hopefully the latter), here’s some options on what Wenger might do with today’s line up:

1. This is the same midfield three that started in Arsenal’s last domestic match, the 0-0 home draw against Sunderland… In that game, Wilshere played the more advanced role, but couldn’t get the ball enough to exert much influence.  In an inevitably physical battle in the middle, there’s a chance Wenger will risk it again & hope we find some space on the counter-attack.
2. Or… And this seems more likely given that the above set up didn’t work last time, Wilshere may stick to his more ‘natural’ position alongside Denilson and Diaby will push up into the ‘Cesc Role’.

The good news, is that is looks like Samir Nasri is starting in the position he’s done so well in this season – a ‘half-winger’ role on the right hand side.