Arsenal V Manchester United…

A youthful Arsenal side may rank higher in my preferences for the EPL winner than could a wealthy Chelsea. (Quite a nice introduction to this post, no?)

So, last weekend’s Arsenal V Manchester United match at the Emirates was full of good things. Good things because the first person singular is a Manchester United fan. What puts weight to it is actually the fact that there are quite a few interesting facts about that match, in reference to the history.

In 2009, during the first leg of Champion’s League Semi-Final at the Old Trafford, Man Utd escaped with a 1- 0 win thanks to John O’shea. This one goal margin win over Arsenal at the Old Trafford was repeated when Man Utd beat Arseanl 2-1 in 2009/10 Premier league season at the same venue.

In the second leg of the Champion’s League Semi-Final, Man Utd went ahead to beat Arsenal 3-1 at the Emirates and therefore booked their place at the Rome Final. This 3-1 score was repeated when the two met at the Emirates in the 2009/10 season. But there are more interesting facts:

Arsenal have scored an own goal in both of their Home and Away matches against Man Utd. The first one was courtesy of Abou Diaby and the second one courtesy of Almunia (although there’s not much he could do about Nani’s perfect play!)

Looking at the matches with a 3-1 scoreline, Man Utd. reused 6 players from the match in May 2009.  So did Arsenal. All the goals in the 31/01/10 match at the Emirates were identical to those on the 04/05/2009.  Ronaldo’s counter attack in May 2009 involved Rooney and Ji Sung Park.

In Jan 2010, it involved the same players, only that Ronaldo was replaced by Nani and his goal replaced by Rooney’s. Ji Sung Park also found the net as he did in May 2009.

Ji Sung Park’s Goal in May 2009 This time, it was his first goal of the season and last May, it had been his first Champion’s League goal for Man Utd. Nani, fitted well in Ronaldo’s shoes for this match and as you know, both men are Portuguese and can play on either wings.

Arsenal’s consolations both came late in the match for both assignments. The first one was by Van Persie with 14 minutes on the clock and the second one was by Vermaelen with 10 minutes to go.

Vermaelen’s Consolation for Arsenal

Love football.