Pitch battles of the real kind

Five memorable showdowns between Alex Ferguson’s Man U and Arsene Wenger’s ArsenalApril 3, 2004• Man Utd 1 Arsenal 0 (F...

Five memorable showdowns between Alex Ferguson’s Man U and Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal

April 3, 2004
• Man Utd 1 Arsenal 0 (FA Cup semi-final)
Arsenal almost score twice before Scholes’s ruthless finish after 32 minutes from a Giggs cross proves enough to give United a victory. The Villa Park victory is made even sweeter for United as it ended Arsenal’s hopes of a third successive FA Cup triumph.

September 21, 2003
• Man Utd 0 Arsenal 0 (Premier League)
The match erupts when Vieira is sent off after 81 minutes for kicking out at Nistelrooy. Vieira makes no contact

but Van Nistelrooy falls, infuriating the Arsenal team. With time running out the bad blood boils over. United earn a penalty but Van Nistelrooy slams it against the bar. The Arsenal players taunt and jostle the Dutchman and eventually face FA punishment.

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May 8, 2002
• Man Utd 0 Arsenal 1 (Premier League)
Wiltord pounces in the second half after fine work by Ljungberg to secure Arsenal the sweetest of FA Cup and premier league doubles in a bear-pit atmosphere inside Old Trafford.

Februrary 25, 2001
• Man Utd 6 Arsenal 1 (Premier League)
Dwight Yorke strikes a hat-trick in the Old Trafford sunshine — all goals in the first 22 minutes — as lumbering Arsenal defender Igor Stepanovs endures a personal nightmare. Arsenal, featuring David Seaman in goal, Ashley Cole, Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry, never recovered and eventually finished 10 points adrift of champions United.

April 14, 1999
• Man Utd 2 Arsenal 1, FA Cup semi-final replay
Ryan Giggs’s extra-time zig-zag through the Arsenal defence, voted the greatest goal in FA Cup history, settles a titanic struggle in United’s favour and sets the team on course for the double. By then United had had their skipper keane sent off and Peter Schmeichel saved a Bergkamp penalty in the last minute.