United 2 Arsenal 1

Given the history between these great clubs, the scoreline suggests a close game, in fact it was a one sided affair with United the dominant and a combination of weak finishing and some good saves by the Arsenal's Mannone that kept the scoreline down.

The atmosphere was a bit flat at times not sure if the early kick off or whether this match is losing it's appeal as Arsenal realistically are not title contenders. There was a lot of us on the Stretford End hoping Arsenal would show up and give United a game and within 3 minutes they were on the back foot. A fantastic combination between Valencia and Rafael who ripped apart Santos and the cross that came in Vermaelan made a hash of it and Van Persie with his right foot blasted it into the net and United ahead.

The rest of the half saw United dominate the shots on target and Arsenal could not even muster a shot on target with Arsenal defence and midfield under constant pressure with Young and Valencia pulling the Arsenal defence apart and Arteta and Willshere not allowed to settle with the ball. The half was drawing to a close when Young cross hit Carzola hand and a penalty awarded. As quite common this season the penalty was missed by Rooney. United still lead but you felt it was an opportunity missed.

The second half started with United on the front foot and a Van Persie cross was met in front of a empty net by Valencia who managed to miss the opportunity. The game started to get a bit niggly with Cleverley using his nine lives and sensibly Sir Alex replaced him with midweek hero Anderson. He started to put his influence on the game with a few shots at goal, defence splitting passes and an unfortunate offside goal.

However, Wegner was not so fortunate and after a public warning by ref Mike Dean another rash challenge by Willshere saw him leave the field earlier than anticipated and Arsenal down to 10 men. The challenge was over as another superb cross by Rooney was met Patrice Evra in the six yard box and United were 2 up. Arsenal were now being pulled apart and Santos was being terrorised by Valencia and Rafael and the majority of United's attacks were coming down that side.

Arsenal were not exerting any pressure on United's defence until the arrival of Theo Walcott. He made a fist of it and gave Evra something to think about. By the time Arsenal got there first shot on target it was injury time. Carzola eventually got an opportunity and he scored a fine goal past David De Gea, that was the last kick off the game and United got the three points.

The win was enough to put United top of the table and a game that in truth United had dominated. The defence was solid and the midfield worked hard but for me the man of the match was Robin Van Persie. Apart from scoring the goal, he worked tirelessly and was a constant threat to Arsenal with his link up play.

United and Arsenal face champions league matches in the week and for United confidence will be high as they visit Braga, as Rio said in a interview after the match that United have not quite hit top form but they are winning and that has to be a worry for the premiership and Europe.