A dream return to his former club for Danny Welbeck who scored an excellent second goal for Arsenal to give us a 2-1 win, breaking the Old Trafford hoodoo and putting us into an FA cup semi-final.
Both Arsenal and Manchester United started with real intent at Old Trafford. Alexis Sanchez was getting some joy against their right back Valencia and had an early shot when he cut inside and nearly created panic. But Hector Bellerin picked up an early booking and United were also getting some joy down the flanks, with a couple of free kicks and corners giving us problems.
Fellaini nearly got free in the box after 14 minutes but lost control at the key moment. The tempo was high and both teams were pressing hard without the ball, even Ozil, which also meant that the passing from both was not as accurate. In the 20th minute we left Fellaini with too much space in the box again but his pull back for Young was just too heavy.
Chamberlain then blew a good opportunity for Arsenal and then had another great burst stopped by Rojo, who should have been booked like Bellerin was for a similar tackle. Then in the 25th minute, just after a brilliant bit of defending by Koscielny, we got the opening goal with a great finish by Monreal after great work by Chamberlain.
But the lead lasted just a few minutes as we failed to pick up Rooney and allowed him a free header from Di Maria’s cross. Way too easy. Welbeck had a half decent penalty claim denied and his own header saved shortly after. Szczesny got away with a fumbling another Di Maria cross but it was bit worrying.
It was fast and furious stuff as the half wore on and both teams were creating chances. Shezzer saved at the near post after Di Maria broke free and then De Gea smothered a Cazorla free kick just before the break which came with no more goals. Van Gaal made two changes at halftime, with Jones and Carrick replacing Shaw and Herrera to suggest he wanted more solidity at the back and more control in midfield.
They were bossing possession as well before Arsenal were forced into ouw own change as the Ox pulled a hamstring and Ramsey came on. We soon got our first good chance of the half but a deflection tok tyhe sting from Alexis’ shot. Ramsey made a difference in winning the midfield battle and Arsenal were the team pressing more.
Fellaini and Young saw yellow and then Monreal did just enough to make Di Maria shoot wide. But Danny Welbeck made no mistake when he pounced on a back pass, beat De Gea and fired in on the hour mark to get his dream return to his former club.
United pushed hard to get another quick reply and they wanted a second yellow for Bellerin for a tackle so Wenger wisely replaced him with Chambers. The Gunners looked determined to hold firm this time though, working hard and biting into tackles as we did at Man City. And we still looked dangerous when we got the ball and went looking for a third and killer goal.
Giroud came on with around 15 minutes left and was involved at the start of a great move which ended in Cazorla being denied by a fantastic De Gea save. Then Di Maria got a second yellow for a bad reaction and it looked like being our night. Maybe it was nerves but we got a bit sloppy after that when we should have been making the extra man count. Arsenal fans were holding our breath as the whistle went after Januzaj claimed a foul in the box but it was a dive and he was rightly booked.
United were lumping it up to Fellaini and trying for the second ball and we had five minutes of stoppage time to endure although Ozil or Sanchez should have scored with a minute left. It didn’t matter though as Arsenal recorded a rare and vital win over the old enemy. Youuuuu Gunners!!
VIDEO – Danny Welbeck’s winning goal at Old Trafford