A fixture known down the years for tunnel
bust-ups and flying pizza will be best remembered as the night Manchester
United fans had no idea how to get home.
The most interesting moment of the evening
came when the Arsenal public announcer informed the 3,000 travelling United
supporters that horrendous weather conditions in the north west had forced the
cancellation of all trains from Euston to Manchester.
They might as well have left the stadium
immediately because there was nothing to see here.
The talk in the days building up to this
game surrounded the possibility that it might be called off had the planned
tube strike gone ahead.
Some of the fans will wish they hadn’t
bothered.
Others who arrived late due to travel chaos
and terrible weather can be rest assured they missed nothing of note.
In different circumstances, a point away at
Arsenal might be considered a good result for United and David Moyes given the
pressure on the Scot in the wake of Sunday’s home draw with Fulham.
But not when it leaves last year’s Premier
League champions 11 points off the top four with 12 games to play this season.
It was a back-to-basics performance from
United built on the same tactics Moyes used on his visits to top four sides
when in charge of Everton.
United were happy to sit deep and ask
Arsenal to break them down, hoping to poach a goal on a rare counter-attack.
They did the first part well enough, but
Robin van Persie, on his return to north London, was twice denied by the
excellent Wojciech Szczesny when the Dutchman should have scored.
The visitors were, first and foremost,
terrified of a ninth defeat of the season and went to north London with the
purpose of taking a point back to Old Trafford.
It could hardly have been further from the
blood and thunder, up-and-at-’em games of yesteryear between these two clubs.
The significance of the result to Arsenal
was vocalised by the boos of the home supporters at the final whistle.
The Gunners themselves looked scarred by
Saturday’s humbling 5-1 defeat away at Liverpool - more fearful of back-to-back
defeats than energised by the chance to reclaim top spot in the Premier League.
The closest they came to breaking the
deadlock was a Laurent Koscielny header from a corner that Antonio Valencia
managed to clear off the line.
Olivier Giroud offered no threat in the
final third and Mesut Ozil again struggled the create chances for team-mates as
the hosts continue to miss the driving forward runs of the injured Aaron Ramsey
and Theo Walcott.
Arsene Wenger’s side were timid and
conservative, as if learning to walk again after being floored, mentally and
physically, by blow of the Liverpool defeat.
Wenger described that Liverpool result as
an ‘accident’ but you have to wonder whether Arsenal’s old mental fragility may
again come to the fore in the final stages of the campaign.
Either way, a 0-0 bore draw was a huge
missed opportunity and a result that suited neither side in their ambitions for
the season, as Arsenal chase the title and United eye an increasingly unlikely
top-four finish.
Arsenal applied a little more pressure late
on, perhaps aware of United's poor record in the closing stages of matches.
United held on for a draw and Moyes seemed
quite happy to have avoided yet another defeat. For everyone else, though, it
was a thoroughly unsatisfactory evening.
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