Man United’s 1-0 triumph over Arsenal
Manchester United is standing firm at the top with 34 points to the taking after their 16 games. On Monday night, the Ji-Sung Park effort was enough to secure a well deserved victory over second in the lead, Arsenal, in the much
anticipated match at Old Trafford. A brilliant first-half header from the South Korean sent Manchester United two points ahead of Arsenal on the Barclays Premier League table. But worth mentioning, there should’ve been more. United wasted countless chances
including the one when Wayne Ronney missed the goal bar, when a penalty was awarded in the second half.
Undoubtedly there was a sense of victory right from the start, as United was cheered by the home crowd.
The first attack was delivered by super-star Rooney after nine minutes, which, with some uncertainty was clutched by Szczesny. Just minutes after, Nani also shot a 35-yard free kick at Szczesny, which was unable to go pass the
keeper. The inexperience was visible but did not overwhelm.
The Reds had to wait until four minutes to injury time for the goal when Park latched onto Nani’s deflected cross, looping over Szczesny to make it 1-0.
Rooney nearly made amends with five minutes left, but Szczesny managed to paw away the United no.10’s cheeky lob. But there was no need. It may have been a victory by a narrow margin, but that was enough.
Sir Alex Ferguson was pleased with the team’s performance saying, “We had to play well tonight but we have been playing well. The first half was excellent but we should have played better on the counter-attack in the second.”
For Arsenal, it was rather a disappointing performance, unable to even recover with star man Cesc Fabrigas out on the field. “Manchester United played very well but technically the quality of the game was average” he stated. Wenger
was not hesitant in admitting that they were not the quickest or sharpest in the game.
Coming down to the Man United’s Ji-Sung Park, he’s covering his grounds fast as one of the men whose recent performance has helped retain United’s position amongst the title contenders. For the past month, it was his injury-time
goal that secured them the victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Ji-sung Park is undoubtedly developing a habit of scoring goals in important games for Manchester United as he delivered again in the biggest game of the season so far. The Korean midfielder now has six goals to his name in this
term, his best return for the league. "He has a great scoring record against Arsenal and he has been in fantastic form recently," said Sir Alex.
Promisingly, he looks like he has plenty more goals to contribute before he shall leave to take part in the 2011 AFC Asia Cup for South Korea. The competition takes place between the 7th-29th of January, leaving
for the league after the 26th of December.
In opposition, Arsene Wenger was forced to hand a Premier League debut to 20-year-old Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. Arsenel’s substitute, Theo Walcott also had a chance by the finish-line but couldn’t muster it to glory
leaving the final scores locked in Monday's Man United’s triumph.
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