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Big SidEEE!!! 
The score shall be an Arsenal 3-1 victory, since we are healthy with just RvP our big striker missing, ohh and Senderos
Rack em
Referee
Match Report
Barclays Premier League
Emirates Stadium
Saturday, November 03, 2007, 12.45pm
Arsenal
-
Manchester Utd
-
By Richard Clarke
The pinnacle game of the Premier League season has re-discovered its meaning.
In the estimate of Arsène Wenger, fixtures between Arsenal and Manchester United have been on sabbatical for the past two years while his side have re-grouped.
For almost a decade these games shaped the seasons of English football’s two predominant teams. But, at the same time as Chelsea emerged to interrupt their duopoly a couple of seasons ago, Arsenal title-credentials began to slip.
However Manchester United awoke revitalised last term to take the title. Likewise, Arsenal’s alarm clock roused them with a start in August. They have been unbeaten all season but it is worth noting only lead Sir Alex Ferguson’s side by the smallest margin — goals scored — albeit with a game in hand.
To show the lack of importance of this fixture last term, Wenger’s side did the double over Manchester United and yet finished 21 points adrift of the champions in the table.
On the evidence of the season so far, it is hard to see there being much more than a cigarette paper between the sides. Their meeting on Saturday WILL be important this term — in the minds of the two teams as much the table. That is why Wenger was looking forward to a renewing of hostilities (though not in the tabloid sense).
"This game dropped off from the top for two years because we were not good enough,” he said at a candid press conference on Friday. “And of course I missed it highly.
“I don't put the effort in to finish fourth. I want to win the League and at the moment this game is back to its tradition. In the last 10 years a lot of these games were the decider for the title.
“Of course the commitment in these kinds of games are always very high, but the characteristics of the players are a little bit different. Maybe we are both more technical than a few years ago but a little bit less physical.”
Arsenal’s only absentees are Robin van Persie (knee) and Philippe Senderos (back) who have been missing for the past four games. They are unlikely to be back until the end of the month. Therefore Wenger will select from the same squad that brought back a fine point from Anfield last Sunday.
If you believe the English newspapers, an enmity was established between the sides when they were jostling for top spot. But that has dissipated more towards respect in the past couple of seasons.
“Enemies is a big word,” said Wenger when the notion was put to him. “I don't know Ferguson well enough to say that I am friends with him. But I respect him for what he has done, and for what he is doing in the job. That's it.
“Sometimes, the atmosphere was hotter and the climate was a bit warmer. You could always handle things more differently, and just sit back and do nothing.
“I feel the papers also have a responsibility to heat it up as much as possible before the game, but I feel the managers have a responsibility to make first a football game.
“What is important is that tomorrow is a good football game and that we win. All the rest is less important.”
The score shall be an Arsenal 3-1 victory, since we are healthy with just RvP our big striker missing, ohh and Senderos
Rack em
Referee
- Howard Webb
Match Report
Barclays Premier League
Emirates Stadium
Saturday, November 03, 2007, 12.45pm
Arsenal
-
Manchester Utd
-
By Richard Clarke
The pinnacle game of the Premier League season has re-discovered its meaning.
In the estimate of Arsène Wenger, fixtures between Arsenal and Manchester United have been on sabbatical for the past two years while his side have re-grouped.
For almost a decade these games shaped the seasons of English football’s two predominant teams. But, at the same time as Chelsea emerged to interrupt their duopoly a couple of seasons ago, Arsenal title-credentials began to slip.
However Manchester United awoke revitalised last term to take the title. Likewise, Arsenal’s alarm clock roused them with a start in August. They have been unbeaten all season but it is worth noting only lead Sir Alex Ferguson’s side by the smallest margin — goals scored — albeit with a game in hand.
To show the lack of importance of this fixture last term, Wenger’s side did the double over Manchester United and yet finished 21 points adrift of the champions in the table.
On the evidence of the season so far, it is hard to see there being much more than a cigarette paper between the sides. Their meeting on Saturday WILL be important this term — in the minds of the two teams as much the table. That is why Wenger was looking forward to a renewing of hostilities (though not in the tabloid sense).
"This game dropped off from the top for two years because we were not good enough,” he said at a candid press conference on Friday. “And of course I missed it highly.
“I don't put the effort in to finish fourth. I want to win the League and at the moment this game is back to its tradition. In the last 10 years a lot of these games were the decider for the title.
“Of course the commitment in these kinds of games are always very high, but the characteristics of the players are a little bit different. Maybe we are both more technical than a few years ago but a little bit less physical.”
Arsenal’s only absentees are Robin van Persie (knee) and Philippe Senderos (back) who have been missing for the past four games. They are unlikely to be back until the end of the month. Therefore Wenger will select from the same squad that brought back a fine point from Anfield last Sunday.
If you believe the English newspapers, an enmity was established between the sides when they were jostling for top spot. But that has dissipated more towards respect in the past couple of seasons.
“Enemies is a big word,” said Wenger when the notion was put to him. “I don't know Ferguson well enough to say that I am friends with him. But I respect him for what he has done, and for what he is doing in the job. That's it.
“Sometimes, the atmosphere was hotter and the climate was a bit warmer. You could always handle things more differently, and just sit back and do nothing.
“I feel the papers also have a responsibility to heat it up as much as possible before the game, but I feel the managers have a responsibility to make first a football game.
“What is important is that tomorrow is a good football game and that we win. All the rest is less important.”
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