Premier League Half Time Report: Manchester United vs. Arsenal – 1-0
Arsenal travelled to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United, in what was going to be a game in deciding who would be the new leader of the Premier League.
Arsenal were looking to try and cause United to suffer there first defeat of the season, but knew before hand that it was going to be an uphill task to do so.
However there was some good and bad news for Arsenal as Cesc Fabregas was declared fit and was going to be on the bench for the game, however Fabianski managed to suffer a late injury scare and was off the bench. What this meant was that
Szczesny was going to make his Premier League debut against United.
The most surprising thing on the United line-up was the fact that Dimitar Berbatov was left on the bench and Wayne Rooney was the lone striker up front.
The line ups for the match were as follows: Man Utd: Van der Sar, Rafael Da Silva, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Fletcher, Carrick, Anderson, Nani, Rooney, Park.
Subs: Kuszczak, Brown, Berbatov, Giggs, Smalling, Hernandez, Obertan
Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Squillaci, Koscielny, Clichy, Song, Rosicky, Wilshere, Nasri, Chamakh, Arshavin.
Subs: Fabianski, Fabregas, van Persie, Walcott, Denilson, Djourou, Bendtner
The match kicked off with both the teams looking to threaten early on. United were managing to retain more possession as they had the home advantage working for them. However Arsenal weren't doing a bad job themselves. The team was caught
going forward often, but didn't manage to really threaten the United goal.
The single fact that seemed to be hindering the Arsenal attack was the fact that Samir Nasri wasn't being brought into the game enough. The player’s ability to play on the wing is exceptional but he was also being sorely missed in the
midfield.
With the half about to end, United managed to score a freak goal. Nani zipped down the left flank and hit a cross that took a wicked deflection off, of Clichy before managing to slam against Park's head. The ball then managed to loop over
the Arsenal keeper and go in off the post to give United the lead. The goal was close to impossible for any keeper to stop and managed to give United the lead right before going into the break.
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