Hargeaves Ends Arsenal's Hopes

Manchester United 2 - Arsenal 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Ronaldo (pen 53), Hargreaves (72)
Arsenal: Adebayor (47)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Pique, Brown, Evra, Hargreaves (Giggs 89), Carrick, Scholes (Anderson 55), Park (Tevez 55), Ronaldo, Rooney

I wouldn't go into just how satisfying this win was. I was with Kentona and his friend, Danny, watching at the packed kopitiam near my place. I love watching at this place since we almost always win when we catch the game here.

There is a bitter old man who is always watching the games here and he's a well documented ABU (anything but united), always making his unwelcomed thoughts felt throughout the game, at the same time, generally pissing all the United fans. But today, all he could do was sip his beer quietly, slumped in his chair, for once not offering his sage advice to anyone who cared to listen. Damn, it's a good day to be a fan today.

We didn't make the best of starts. Fergie opted to field 5 in midfield and with the amount of possession Arsenal enjoyed in the middle of the park, you couldn't really tell. For most of the first half, it was all Arsenal, peppered by a few forays forward by Rooney, Ronaldo and Park.

Scholes in general was having a nightmare. He was spraying passes to the opposition, giving Carrick and Hargreaves a torrid time covering for him. The defence without Vidic was caught napping so often that you'd wonder when Arsenal will make the breakthrough. Hleb in particular was giving the entire defence the run around. It was a miracle that the half ended scoreless.

Unfortunately THAT breakthrough did come early in the restart. Barely 2 minutes had gone by, before the defence was once again caught napping and Adebayor nipped in between Rio and Carrick to score from a cross. There was probably a hint of handball, but in truth it was nothing more than the gooners had deserved. We were sluggish and couldn't match Arsenal's desire and intensity.

It was almost 2 just moments later when Rio slammed the ball into Van der Sar, almost causing us more embarrassment.

Then the inexplicable happened. We were pushing forward for an equalizer when Gallas handled the ball. Penalty! And a timely one, just when I was about to moan about us not having a penalty for quite sometime.

Ronaldo stepped up, stuttered towards the ball and powered it past Lehmann. The referee blew the whistle and waved the penalty away. Apparently while Ronaldo was stuttering towards the ball, a red shirt had stepped into the box and the penalty was to be retaken.

On the second bite of the cherry, Ronaldo placed the ball in beyond Lehmann who dived the correct direction. We had drawn level.

Sensing the momentum change, Fergie rung in the substitions. He brought on Tevez for Park and Anderson for the ineffective Scholes. Immediately the game turned on its head. Both players added a much needed level of intensity, skill and desire. We began to boss the midfield as Arsenal started to falter visibly.

It wasn't long before we won a freekick at the edge of the box. It was Ronaldo territory and everyone was expecting a thunderbolt from him. As he cued up for the kick, legs wide apart, it was the man beside him who took the kick, and my was it a beautifully taken one. No one in an Arsenal jersey was expecting it.

Hargeaves curled the ball beyond the wall and into the bottom left corner of the net. Lehmann stood rooted to the ground, still waiting for Ronaldo to make his run. 2-1 up and we were flying. Confidence was at an all time high as we knew we had Arsenal.

Arsenal did make a challenge out of it, even striking the post in injury time, but United stood firm, weathering whatever they threw at us. Ronaldo even had the luxury of showboating alittle, inviting a push from Hoyte, which saw him booked.

No doubt there would be complaints of Ronaldo's antics, but to be honest, if there was any team that would appreciate it, it would have been Arsenal. Afterall, weren't they lauded for playing pretty football throughout the season?

My maths is abit fuzzy, but we should now be 6 points away from the title with just 4 games left to play, and a game still to play against Chelsea.