Memorable Arsenal vs Manchester United moments in Premier League era

Memorable Arsenal vs Manchester United moments in Premier League era

Arsenal hosts Manchester United in the Premier League on Wednesday. While the former looks to close the gap with leader Liverpool, the latter hopes to inch closer to the top four.

While United might have fallen off recently and Arsenal left playing second-fiddle to Manchester City in the last two years, the rivalry between the Red Devils and the Gunners is one for the history books.

Helmed by Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson for most of the Premier League era so far, Arsenal and Manchester United respectively have given football fans numerous memorable moments, especially in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Here’s a look at some of the memorable moments from Arsenal vs Manchester United clashes in the Premier League era over the years:

Ashley Young, the 39-year-old full-back who’s currently plying his trade with Everton, has scored only twice against Arsenal in his Premier League career so far. Those two goals came during the Gunners’ 2-8 drubbing by Manchester United on August 28, 2011.

In front of a 75448-strong crowd at Old Trafford, Ferguson’s Devils ran riot as Wenger’s men were left helpless. A young Theo Walcott did open the scoring for Arsenal late in the first half, but Danny Welbeck, Young, and Wayne Rooney had already scored for the host by then.

One after the other, the Manchester players took turns to worsen Arsenal’s visit. Rooney bagged a hat-trick that night, Young notched up a hat-trick of assists, and Robin van Persie scored the visitor’s second goal.

The defeat to date remains Arsenal’s joint-heaviest defeat in the Premier League, up there with its 0-6 thrashing by Chelsea in 2014.

While the 2003-04 season was certainly special for Arsenal, for it ended the campaign as the ‘Invincibles’, the following season had a couple of incidents between the London side and Manchester United which still continue to do rounds in conversations. Branding them as ‘memorable’ is an understatement.

A 17-year-old Cesc Fabregas was a spectator from the bench when United ended Arsenal’s 49-game unbeaten streak in the league. Upset with his side’s 0-2 loss, he did what any teenager would perhaps do. He threw pizza, hoping it would be his contribution to the match after the full-time whistle. And the flying piece of dough found Alex Ferguson’s face to land on.

While the Spaniard owned up to this act and apologised years later, that October 24, 2004 match between the two sides was filled with contentious moments. From Rooney’s alleged dive inside the box to reckless refereeing, the game had it all.

It was in the reverse fixture that the simmer came to a boil. Well documented on video, skippers Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane are seen at loggerheads inside the Highbury tunnel ahead of kick-off. The back story to this goes that it was the Frenchman, annoyed with the way Gary Neville had fouled the Gunners earlier in the season, who had gone after the Englishman during warmup. After hearing this, Keane decided to stand up for his teammate. “See you out there,” was the warning the Irishman fired at Vieira. United went on to win the game 4-2.

Ruud van Nistelrooy, now Leicester City’s manager, had a chance to end Arsenal’s Invincibles run quite early.

In the September 23, 2003 match, United was awarded a late penalty in the second half after Martin Keown seemingly brought down Diego Forlan inside the box. Up steps the Dutchman, who thumps the ball straight at the crossbar. Nistelrooy missed, Keown leaped in joy.

Shortly after the miss, the referee blew the full-time whistle after which Keown and other Arsenal players are seen pushing and shoving the United forward. An 18-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo squared up to the towering Arsenal players in his teammate’s defense, but the ‘Battle of Old Trafford’ ended in a 0-0 draw.

The picture of Arsene Wenger standing in front of the United fans at the Old Trafford stands after being sent off continues to be iconic imagery connected to the rivalry.

In 2009, after a Robin van Persie goal was flagged offside, a frustrated Wenger kicked a bottle in anger at the dugout. Seeing this, the fourth official let the on-field referee know of the incident, which resulted in the Frenchman being sent to the stands.

Clearly annoyed at the whole ordeal, the French tactician climbed over to the stands, right in front of the home fans, not caring about what the United fans were telling him.

Robin van Persie had a sour ending to his eight-year stint with Arsenal. He joined rival Manchester United ahead of the 2012-13 season and was instrumental in helping the Red Devils win the title.

This didn’t go down well with the Arsenal fans, and things worsened when the London outfit was to give United a guard of honour after it confirmed the championship.

The reception for the Dutchman at the Emirates wasn’t pleasant. The player admitted later that he found the guard of honour “awkward” since some of the Arsenal players were his friends.