Manchester United turned the screw on Arsenal with a decisive 2-0 victory in the FA Cup quarter-final at Old Trafford tonight, a result that sent the Gunners crashing out of a third major competition in a fortnight following a Carling Cup Final loss to Birmingham and Champions’ League defeat at the hands of Barcelona.
Goals for Fabio Da Silva and Wayne Rooney not only sealed Sir Alex Ferguson’s men a place in the semi-final draw but gave the Premier League leaders what could turn out to be a crucial psychological edge over their closest pursuers as the season hurtles towards its climax.
United fielded a starting 11 bereft of Ferdinand, Berbatov, Scholes, Giggs and Nani in a 4-5-1 formation that gave the brothers Da Silva opposite berths on the flanks outside the blue collar pairing of Darren Gibson and John O’Shea, while Javier Hernandez led the line ahead of a deep-lying Wayne Rooney.
In the absence of Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger looked to the artisan Jack Wilshere to pull the strings and the England youngster masterfully played the role of ubiquitous fulcrum, receiving and distributing with an assuredness beyond his years.
With Denilson utilised as a spoiler in front of the Arsenal back line, alongside the industrious Wilshere, Arsenal dominated early possession as wide men Andrey Arshavin and Samir Nasri probed down the flanks, backed by the marauding Abou Diaby.
In only the second minute, Arshavin exhibited quick feet to skip by the floundering United right back Wes Brown before playing a one-two with lone striker Robin Van Persie.
The little Russian’s weak shot, easily saved low to his right by United’s veteran goalkeeper Edwin Van De Sar, set the tone for Arsenal’s night that produced no goals despite 11 shots on target and 54% of possession.
Three minutes later, Diaby played a push and go around a flat-footed O’Shea , slipped a pass to Nasri on the right flank and continued his run into the box. Nasri chose to cut inside, striking a poor shot straight at Van Der Sar.
And so it continued, with Arsenal stringing together sequences of silken passing but with no end product.
United’s central defensive pairing of Nemanja Vidic and Chris Smalling, backed by the brilliant Van Der Sar, kept at bay the Arsenal attack and on 15 minutes, the home side gave warning with a counter assault that should have produced the game’s opener.
Gibson took a leaf out of Wilshere’s book as he cleverly engineered space in the centre and spread a delightful pass wide left to Fabio Da Silva. The young Brazilian’s whipped cross found the charging head of his sibling Rafael, who headed powerfully over the crossbar from six yards out.
Arsenal failed to take heed. With the clock approaching 28 minutes, Van der Sar flashed an underarm throw to Fabio in a central position. The winger advanced at pace into the Arsenal half before playing an exquisite pass with the outside of his foot to Rafael on the right, who returned the ball to his brother.
Fabio dropped a short pass to Rooney , spun his man and continued into the box as Hernandez peeled off his marker and found himself in space at the back post. Rooney looped a perfectly weighted first-time ball to the little Mexican who powered a crisp header goalward.
Manuel Almunia stretched low to his left but pushed the ball into the path of the oncoming Fabio whose sliding shot rifled into the roof of the net.
Arsenal continued to press forward after the re-start and Van Persie went close just after the half-hour with an angled shot across goal from the right side that Van der Sar did well to flick around the post.
At the resultant corner, Van Persie blazed a header past the upright from six yards out.
Fabio gave way to the returning Valencia for the second half, back in action for the first time since breaking his leg against Glasgow Rangers in September, but the pattern of play remained the same as Arsenal came out fighting yet lacked a knock-out punch
First Van der Sar pulled off a brilliant double save, preventing an own goal with his legs and denying Laurent Koscielny with a left-hand reflex save on the follow-up, then Arshavin weaved through red shirts only to hit a tame shot wide of the target.
Again, United punished Arsenal’s profligacy when on 48 minutes Van der Sar once more started a goal scoring move as he fed Rafael who sprinted down the right flank and fired a low cross into the six-yard box towards the advancing Hernandez.
The admirable Johan Djourou stuck tight to the lunging Hernandez and succeeded in blocking the Mexican’s shot but the loose ball bounced up to Rooney at the right-hand post and the United man made no mistake as he headed cleverly in off the far frame.
Wenger attempted to shake things up with the introduction of Marouane Chamakh on 59 minutes but the Moroccan proved as impotent in front of goal as his teammates, missing a free header from a delicious Bacary Sagna cross with 15 minutes left on the clock.
Tomas Rosicky had replaced the increasingly ineffective Arshavin on 71 minutes and shortly after Chamakh’s tame effort, the Czech midfielder struck with venom from 22 yards out, forcing Van de Sar to produce another fine instinctive block.
However, it was Rosicky who missed arguably Arsenal’s chance of the night four minutes into injury time, when Sagna delivered another exquisite cross from the right flank that found his teammate in glorious isolation just four yards from goal.
Rosicky’s deer in headlights failure to make a meaningful connection with his head signalled the end of Arsenal’s FA Cup campaign.
Due to the eight minutes of overtime played as a result of Djourou suffering a season-ending dislocated shoulder, there was still time for a Paul Scholes booking and an uncharacteristic miss from Hernandez, who shot straight at Almunia from six yards.
Unlike Arsenal, Manchester United march on to the next round with a 12th FA Cup victory in their sights and still fighting for Premier League and Champions’ League honours.
Despite Arsenal holding a game in hand on United and being only three points behind their rivals, Wenger will have to use all of his experience to instil not only belief but also an elusive killer instinct into his players if they are to end their six-year trophy drought this spring.
Referee: Chris Foy
Attendance: 74,693
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