Manchester United win to end Arsenal's title hopes

I had not written on this site for some time due to my mock examinations. Thankfully they are now finished (They went quite well and I received good marks). Therefore, I will be writing regularly again. Let's start with a look back at this weekend's big match...



On Sunday, Arsenal travelled to Old Trafford to face their arch-rivals Manchester United, a match that has become one of the biggest fixture in the English Premier League. Two weeks ago, it was thought that this fixture would be a real title-decider, but now it was all about whether the Gunners could stay in the race for the title.



The first half of the match was all about missed opportunities. Adebayor missed two great chances to score for the Gunners where it might have been easier to score. Whereas Rooney was the culprit for United, missing decent one-on-one chances. Credit must also go to Lehmann, a surprise selection by Wenger, for making some excellent saves. In truth, Arsenal dominated the first-half, easily pocketing United's midfield.

The second half was much more open and Arsenal got the reward for their endeavours when Adebayor bundled home from a Robin Van Persie cross, albeit with his hand. United needed to get back in the match as soon as possible and show some urgency. And Gallas gifted them the ideal opportunity to equalise, conceding a completely needless penalty for handling the ball. Ronaldo stepped up to the spot ,and as expected, scored his 38th goal of the season. Immediately afterwards, Sir Alex brought on Anderson and Tevez for Scholes and Park and these substitutions had the desired effect, with United now dominating the proceedings. Evra slid in a wonderful ball to Rooney, only for him to shoot straight at Lehmann. And when Evra collected the rebound Gilberto brought him down in what many believed to be ronaldo-territory. but hargreaves had other ideas and took a chance himself and struck home a beautiful curling free-kick , leaving Lehmann stranded in his position, to send the Old Trafford faithful in delirium. After this, Arsenal had a couple of half-decent chances but United were able to keep them at bay to seal a memorable win.

Now some talk about individual players. Evra was outstanding for United. Not only he was strong in defense, but was very useful in attack too. His through-ball to Ronaldo was simply world-class. Ferdinand got the Man Of The Match and rightly so. Apart for being at fault for the goal, he was solid as usual, and many times he had to cover for the poor Brown. Ronaldo was anonymous for most of the match but showed balls of steel when it mattered the most while taking the spot-kick. A special mention must go to Owen Hargreaves. He has taken some time to settle, but for the last two matches he had showed what he can do. Rooney played well; his movement and work-rate was first-class but his finishing let him down again. I feel Fergie must buy an out-and-out striker in the summer as Rooney's lacklustre finishing can really lead to trouble.

As for the Gunners, Hleb had a great game , teasing the United defence with his sharp passing and movement all afternoon; no wonder Inter Milan are after him. Fabregas provided another creative performance when everyone thought that the lad had burnt out. In reality, the whole Arsenal team was let down by Adebayor, who should have scored from all those chances.

Gunners are now out of the title race and the prospect of another trophy-less season must be a bitter pill for them to swallow. Although Manchester United have one hand on the title, but it is still very much a two-horse race. The players should guard themselves from complacency. At this stage, you can trust Sir Alex to get his players to cross the finishing line to win his 10th Premier League trophy.