Kicking Arsenal Out Of The FA Cup

Manchester United 2 - Arsenal 0
Scorers
Manchester United: Fabio (28), Rooney (49)

Team: Van der Sar, Vidic, Smalling, Brown, Evra (Scholes 80), O'Shea, Gibson, Rafael (Giggs 63), Fabio (Valencia 46), Rooney, Hernandez

Both teams where pretty much down in the dumps, affected by bad results recently and injuries. We just had consecutive losses to Chelsea and Liverpool, while Arsenal self-destructed in the Carling Cup finals and were harshly dumped from the Champions League competition by a Martin Atkinson-like referee.

With injuries playing a big part to both managers' selections, it was Ferguson's gimmicky lineup that won the day, to make it a hattrick of competitions that Arsenal were dumped out of. The porn brothers were wonderful make-shift wingers. Their energy, enthusiasm and can-do spirit was a breath of fresh air from Carrick's square passes and hopeless running. Together with Rooney, O'Shea and even Gibson, they formed a formidable 5-man midfield that was able to catch Arsenal twice on the counter-attack, resulting in the first goal.

Valencia replaced Fabio at the half and proceeded to help set up the second and another sweeping move that dumbfounded the Arsenal defense. Arsenal too had their chances, but were foiled by the brilliant Van der Sar. Almunia had his moments too, making a number of incredible saves to keep the contest interesting.

The spectacle was marred by a lengthy injury to Djourou. And in a longer than normal injury time, Scholes tried to his best to get a red card but the referee refused to indulge him.

Overall it was a really good game and a really good result. Rafael and Fabio were exceptional and the return of Valencia might just mean that Nani's injury against Liverpool would not be such a huge miss. Most important of all, Ferguson probably learnt that we can not only survive without Michael fucking Carrick, but we were actually striving.