A Rivalry rekindled

The wait is almost over. The intense rivalry of Arsenal vs Man Utd has graduated from the domestic game to take center stage on the European stage. For more than a decade, this match-up has captured the attention of followers of the English game for a variety of reasons -- the battles of the two managers, who are now the longest serving club managers not only in England but also in Europe, the match-ups of players involved and the intense passion of the fans. In a way, this match-up also presents a clash of two different ideologies as both teams have followed different paths over the last decade. Man Utd were debt free until they were taken over and overnight laden with debt yet they have continued splashing out money on whichever player they have wanted. On the other hand, Arsenal’s transfer spending was restricted because of the debt incurred as part of building the new stadium resulting in Wenger’s youth policy. Even though both clubs have a very rich history, both clubs are a complete contrast in their images as well -- Man Utd certainly have more hype around them not only because of past players but because of off-field promotional contracts. On the other hand, Arsenal have allowed their football to gain new supporters over the last decade as most recent fans can claim to have found love with the Gunners solely for footballing results, be it a player’s skill or the footballing style developed under Wenger.

Regardless of the paths the two clubs have undertaken over the last few years, on Wednesday night they will be standing on the same field side by side trying to achieve the same goal of making the Champions League final.

A changing of the guard that never happened

After Ferguson took almost 7 years to land his first title for Man Utd, he and Man Utd were able to enjoy an unchallenged monopoly on the Premier League title until Arsene Wenger came along. So it was not surprizing that Wenger’s immediate success with Arsenal brought on a rivalry. Plus, Wenger was the only manager to rightly question the lenient decisions that Man Utd kept getting. Unfortunately, after Arsenal’s double in 1998, they failed to narrowly win the title the following season, losing by one point over 38 games (Arsenal’s goal difference was just one behind Manchester’s) and failed to convert a last minute penalty to knock Man Utd out of the F.A Cup semi’s. Arsenal took a few steps backward the next two seasons before they finally managed to assert themselves in the 2001/02 season whey they completed an impressive double and went the entire season unbeaten away from home. The title was clinched in that memorable 1-0 away win at Old Trafford.

It seemed Arsenal were on the verge of dethroning Man Utd’s reign but they surrendered the title the following season to Man Utd by giving up some late goals to drop valuable points. Also that season, Rooney (already a Man Utd player in the making) ended Arsenal’s long unbeaten streak and Man Utd stopped Arsenal’s 55 goal scoring streak with a 2-0 win at Old Trafford. Arsenal managed to get a tiny revenge by winning 2-0 away to Manchester in the F.A Cup, a defeat that caused that mystery shoe to be kicked about in the Manchester dressing room, paving the path for their celebrity star to exit for Madrid.

Even though Arsenal had a historic season in 2003/04 going unbeaten in the league and fulfilling Wenger’s beliefs and comments from the 2003 season, they still could not bury Man Utd. Henry’s bullet of a shot gave Arsenal a lead in the league match-up but Arsenal failed to hold on and allowed Man Utd to leave with a 1-1 tie. A week later, Man Utd knocked Arsenal out of the F.A Cup and their players celebrated as if they had won the cup.

The following season, while Chelsea’s emergence was knocking Man Utd to third spot in the league, Ferguson’s men still provided a major hindrance to Arsenal by halting Arsenal’s unbeaten streak to 49. That defeat essentially derailed Arsenal’s title bid. Arsenal once again got a mini revenge by winning the F.A Cup that season on penalties over Man Utd.

Man Utd managed to rise up again and wrestled the title away from Chelsea while Arsenal once again took a few steps backwards. Still, Arsenal did their part to ensure Man Utd won’t have their way by doing the double over Man Utd in the 2006/07 season. But once again, Man Utd managed to come back the following season and easily knocked Arsenal out of the F.A Cup and defeated them in the league to finally halt Arsenal’s league ambitions. Still, with all their problems this season, Arsenal managed to inflict a defeat on Man Utd 2-1 and remarkably held on despite Man Utd’s 6 gifted minuted of injury time.

A goal or two would be just fine

In the 15 trips Arsenal have made to Old Trafford under Wenger, the record is:
Man Utd with 6 wins (outscoring Arsenal 20-2),
Arsenal with 4 wins, shutting out Man Utd by a 5-0 score,
and three draws.

In these games, Arsenal have scored more than one goal at Old Trafford on only one occasion, in that 2-0 F.A Cup win. Whereas, in the same time period Man Utd have scored two or more goals on atleast 6 occasions (Man Utd got more than 2 only one time in that 4-2 away win). Although, before Wenger came along Arsenal’s away record to Man Utd was worse as they had only won one away trip (1-0, ofcourse, in that league winning 1990/91 season) in a decade.

If one is too read something in these results, it is that when Arsenal have won at Old Trafford, they have had to keep a clean sheet. But this two legged Champions league tie presents a different context to this tussle because of the importance of away goals. In the previous league meetings with points at stake, the number of goals were not the important factor as victory by any score-line would do in landing the 3 points. Same goes for the F.A Cup tie where a win was essential to avoid a replay (note: the league Cup encounter at Old Trafford was a winner take all affair). But in the Champions league, the winner will ultimately be decided after 180 minutes (or more as needed, not including courtesy added ref time). Although, given the number of injuries that Arsenal have had, defending is not going to be their forte (not something that has been in recent years anyway) and they would have to attack while still managing to contain Man Utd. And moreover, as Villa and a certain North London team have shown recently, taking a lead at Old Trafford is much easier than trying to hold onto it.

In recent years Man Utd have tried to play an open style against Arsenal. Maybe it has something to do with Man Utd wanting to beat Arsenal by playing better football as even though Man Utd have all those trophies, some in the media still credit Arsenal as having beautiful football, although that tag has come under scrutiny over the last few seasons.

In the past, Arsenal have failed to get past their other two main domestic rivals in the Champions league as their encounters against Chelsea and Liverpool both came at the Quarter-final stage. But if Arsenal have to finally end their long elusive wait for the trophy, then what better way than to get past their biggest domestic rivals and the current holders en route to the final. And as Old Trafford has been a bother to past Arsenal teams, it is probably much better for Arsenal to get the away trip out of the way first.

Arsenal vs Liverpool, two friendly foes

The league table shows that sunday’s game between Arsenal and Liverpool pits the 5th vs 1st place teams, with Arsenal trailing Liverpool by 8 points. A win for Arsenal and the gap would be reduced to 5 points but a defeat would open a 11 point gap between the two. While Liverpool have only lost one game this season and Arsenal have lost 5, the two share one common aspect this season -- both teams have recorded a home win against Man Utd and an away win to Chelsea.

While there is a lot of stake given the current league season, an Arsenal vs Liverpool game does manage to encapsulate plenty of history. The first recorded game between the two took place all the way on October 28 1893, which Liverpool won 5-0, and since then the two have engaged in 168 league meetings and 202 overall encounters in all competitions. There have been many eye-catching match-ups between these two but here are some that have stood out in the last two decades.

Anfield 1989: "It's up for grabs now.."


Arsenal’s 2-0 win at Anfield has become the stuff of legends. In a way, Arsenal’s title win laid the foundations for further success through the 1990’s and even enabled Arsene Wenger to implement his philosophy with the aid of the 1989 title winning squad. On the other hand, Liverpool bounced back in the 1989/90 season to win the League but have not won the league title since then.

2001 F.A Cup Final:


Even though Arsenal’s team was strong on paper (Seamen, Dixon, Keown, Adams, Cole, Pires, Grimandi, Vieira, Ljungberg, Wiltord, Henry, subs used -- Parlour, Kanu, Bergkamp), the squad showed the same weakness that became an unfortunate symbol of Arsenal in the years since -- dominating the game, playing beautiful football, unable to finish chances and kill the game and conceding goals via set-pieces to lose. But there was a silver lining in Arsenal’s defeat as the team bounced back the following season to do the double (including going unbeaten away from home in the league) and managed to win consecutive F.A Cup titles. Also, Arsenal went on to win atleast a trophy in each of the next four seasons (including that unbeaten league season) while playing some champagne football.

April 2004:
That game, That goal! "Genius at work, his name's Thierry Henry"

Yes soccer is a team game but if there was ever a moment a single player carried the expectations of an entire team and their fans, then Thierry Henry provided it at Highbury on April 9. Even though the 4-2 stunning Arsenal win didn’t mathematically secure the title, there was no doubt that Arsenal would win the 2003/04 League title. The next day even Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri admitted that his team would not be able to catch Arsenal, which they didn’t.

Jan 2007:

Arsenal knocked Liverpool out of both the F.A Cup and Carling Cup within three days with two completely different teams playing away to Anfield. Although, the young Arsenal squad’s stunning 6-3 win in the Carling Cup stands out as that was the only time any Arsenal squad has scored 6 goals away to Liverpool. Julio Baptista scored 4 goals and even had the luxury to miss a penalty. Even though both victories still didn’t get Arsenal a trophy that season but there was still much to cheer for three days.

Liverpool 1-3 Arsenal: "oh he's done it again"
Ah beauty at work for the first goal. Rosicky to Hleb back to Tomas and goooolaso!!!!!


Last few seasons:

The last time Arsenal did the league double over Liverpool was in the unbeaten league season of 2003/04. In the following three seasons, Arsenal and Liverpool have split home wins between them with Arsenal winning their home fixtures 3-1 (2004/05), 2-1 and 3-0 while Liverpool have won their home ties 2-1 (2004/05), 1-0 and 4-1. Arsenal met Liverpool 4 times last season, with three of the games ending 1-1. The 4th and final encounter also should have ended in a draw, 2-2, a result that would have ensured Arsenal’s progress in the Champions League. After Walcott’s fantastic run setup Adebayor for the easiest of tap-ins, someone should have shouted ‘Cut’ or ‘That’s a wrap’ to close the game out and leave Arsenal with a fairy tale ending. But the cameras kept on rolling and in an instant the fairy tale game turned into a nightmare for Arsenal. And just to emphasize the seriousness of the situation, Kolo Toure did his best imitation of an extra on an horror film set by etching panic all over his face. Curtains and fade to black.

When Sunday Comes:

There are plenty of reasons for Arsenal to record a win over Liverpool. Make up for last season’s disappointment, improve this season’s league standings and continue this season’s trend of winning games against the ‘big’ teams. It may be a biased opinion but it appears that Arsenal have more to gain from a win or more to lose from a defeat than Liverpool do. But that does not mean Liverpool will treat this fixture lightly. Whatever happens on Sunday, Rafael Benitez will surely be busy taking notes. Hopefully, the Arsenal players give him plenty to think and scribble about.

Arsenal vs Manchester United

pics from: Arsenal.com, BBC

This is it. The ultimate Battle Royale!! Although this year’s installment features the weakest and even softest Arsenal team to take on their traditional rivals. Injuries and a needless suspension have denied Arsenal a chance to battle on equal terms but Arsenal’s opponents will not care too much for that as they will go out looking to inflict maximum damage, such is the nature of these games.

Then...

Until Wenger came to England, Man Utd were the undisputed kings of English football. On top of that, all decisions went Manchester’s way and when Wenger questioned that, it led to Ferguson taking a cheap shot at Arsene. Back then, Ferguson would have hardly expected that the French man from Japan would cause him so much headache. But after winning a glorious double in 1998, Arsenal were pegged back in their effort to sustain repeated title challenges. Three title less seasons followed but after Arsenal beautifully did the double in 2001/02, it looked like they could finally maintain their dominance and even emulate Manchester. But the following season, Arsenal let Man Utd overtake them in the end as Arsenal’s weakness to defend leads was highlighted. Also, in that 2002/03 Arsenal suffered their first hurdle against Everton when a 16 year old Rooney stunned them in the final minute.

The following season Arsenal did the impossible and went unbeaten through the season but even then, they allowed Manchester to put a dent on their achievement in their 1-0 F.A Cup loss. Things were looking good for Arsenal at the start of the 2004/05 until their visit to Old Trafford. Man Utd were well back of Arsenal and Ferguson tried to rally his team by saying that all of England were expecting Manchester to stop Arsenal. Well, stop they did but not by playing football but by kicking and cheating their way to a 2-0 win. A year earlier as well Man Utd tried to cheat a win courtesy of Ruud Van but his penalty miss was followed by a dishing out of emotions by Keown and company. Unfortunately a year later (Oct 24, 2004) Manchester completed their cheating job and the level of injustice felt by the Arsenal players led to some friction in the tunnel after the game. Up to this day, Ferguson is still waiting for an apology and we are waiting for the full truth to come out. Nonetheless, that defeat led to another Arsenal title bid to falter. Arsenal got revenge in a very subtle way at the end of the season in their penalty shoot-out F.A Cup win over Man Utd. Earlier in the season, Ferguson’s side had stopped Arsenal by kicking the Gunners and stopping them from playing. On the other hand, Arsenal stopped Man Utd by allowing them to play as much football as they wanted. Man Utd dominated possession and freely shot at Arsenal’s net as many times as their hearts desired. It turned out Arsenal’s tactic that day was to give Manchester the illusion of control and were willing to wait until the Red Devils tired themselves out. After 120 minutes, Man Utd were still standing and it required a penalty save from Jens to allow Patrick Vieira to give Arsenal another F.A Cup and as it stands, their last trophy.

In the 2005/06 season, Manchester once again played spoilers to the team at the top, this time it was Chelsea. Both Arsenal and Manchester were fading in the shadows of Chelsea’s monetary constructed team. The summer of 2006 proved crucial for Manchester’s fate. After Ronaldo’s wink at Rooney’s dismal in the World Cup, it looked like that Ronaldo would never play at Manchester or in England again. But Ferguson ensured that didn’t happen and the following season, Ronaldo lifted Manchester to another league title. Although, Arsenal did their best that season to give their rivals something to think about by winning both their league fixtures. In the first game between the two at Old Trafford, Adebayor scored the crucial goal to give Arsenal their first of the season as the Gunners started the campaign winless in 3 games. On the other hand, Manchester had opened the season up with 4 straight league wins only to be stopped by Arsenal. In January 2007, Arsenal once again defeated Man Utd in dramatic fashion when Eboue crossed (no this is not a typo) for Henry to head home the winner. The game was the last time that Henry would play against Manchester in an Arsenal shirt and as it stands, it was the last time that Arsenal won a game against them.

Now...

No Adebayor or Van Persie present for Saturday while Rooney is well rested for Manchester and they are at full attacking strength with Tevez, Ronaldo, Berbatov and Nani. One would consider that this was a chance for Bendtner and Vela to show what they can do but Arsene might leave Bendtner up front on his own. The tactic has the danger of leaving Bendtner completely isolated and not giving Manchester’s defense any worries. In that case, Nasri might be the only real game breaker as Cesc would be too bogged down by doing everything on his own. There are no real leaders in the team and even though he is only 21, Cesc is still the only player in who can vocally lift the team. So it is crucial for Arsenal to start off positively. If there was a game when Arsenal needed the full support of the home crowd, this would be it.

Saying this is a massive test is an understatement. The devil himself is personally coming to London to conduct this young Arsenal squad’s baptism with fire.