There was a great deal of hype going into Saturday's matchup of the Mighty Devils vs. the Gunners. The Manchester United squad played at home and under pressure, coming into the game after last week’s emotional loss to Manchester City, 2-1. Arsenal’s players were full of confidence, having defeated Blackburn 2-0 on Monday. But they were missing a few key players. Senderos, Clichy, Sagna, Almunia, Walcott, Van Persie, and Rosicky were all unavailable, and Adebayor did not start. Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson took a risky move, leaving goal machine Cristiano Ronaldo out of the squad (Ronaldo has 27 goals this season). Carlos Tevez did not play either, which left Wayne Rooney alone at the top with Park and Nani supporting from the wings.
Manchester United dominated the game from the very beginning, with Rooney leading the Devils in the first 16 minutes. Darren Fletcher scored four minutes later with a cross from Nani, putting United up, 2-0. The third goal was the real masterpiece. Michael Carrick showed brilliant vision and found Nani lurking outside the box with the perfect ball. Nani struck a left-footed shot past Lehmann. United was up, 3-0. By now the game was surely passed Arsenal, and Jens Lehmann's performance did not help to improve his chances of keeping a permanent place when Almunia gets fit.
Van der Sar comfortably collected the rare chance that fell to Bendtner and Eduardo. Darren Fletcher added to Arsenal's woes at the 74-minute mark and Manchester United moved even further ahead, 4-0. This was a sensational performance by United, knocking Arsenal out of the FA Cup and warning that the Red Devils are coming. It was a brilliant fight back. Rooney returns, Saha and Park are fit, and Ronaldo and Tevez are fresh after some well-earned rest.
Both Darren Fletcher and Nani played excellently throughout the game and Michael Carrick once again filled the role of the unsung hero.
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