Red Devils end Arsenal’s hopes | Manchester United 2-1 Arsenal
April 14, 2008
Cristiano Ronaldo’s 38th goal of the season and Owen Hargreaves’s free-kick lifted Manchester United to a 2-1 win over Arsenal and a step closer to retaining their Premier League title on Sunday.
Defeat at Old Trafford left Arsenal contemplating a third successive season without silverware.
The Gunners are nine points adrift after a disastrous run of just two wins in 13 games that has effectively cost them any chance of honours at home and in Europe this term.
It was a point conceded by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger who, when asked on Sky Sports about his side’s title hopes after this defeat, replied: “Yes we are out.
“We played with quality and spirit, and I’m very proud of our performance. What can you do?,” the Frenchman added.
Arsenal had been five points ahead in February but, despite their slump, Wenger said bad fortune rather than poor performance had been the Gunners’ greatest problem.
“The last two months, we have been not very lucky - and you could see that again,” Wenger insisted. “I believe this team is good enough.”
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, whose team still have to go to second-placed Chelsea on April 26, added: That was a big big game for us and we’ve come through it.”
Emmanuel Adebayor’s 48th minute opening goal had threatened to blow the title race wide open as Arsenal responded bravely to their devastating midweek Champions League defeat by Liverpool.
But Ferguson’s side responded to move six points clear of second-placed Chelsea with just four games remaining.
Any suggestion that Arsenal were still smarting from their painful defeat at Anfield was quickly overruled by a determined start that saw the visitors take control of the game without managing to turn their supremacy into goals.
Ferguson, asked what it was like to watch the game, replied: “Torture.”
The Scot added: “The quality of that game was outstanding, you won’t get a better game this year. You couldn’t ask for more from a team than Arsenal have produced today and we still managed to win it.”
Outspoken Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, who last week vented his fury at being left on the sidelines by Wenger, made some fine saves after a wrist injury to Manuel Almunia gave him a rare start.
His afternoon’s work that blemished only by the keeper’s questionable positioning for Hargreaves’ match-winning free-kick.
Before then Arsenal had appeared to be on course to revive their title challenge when they finally took the lead three minutes into the second-half through Adebayor.
The chance came after Robin van Persie rescued a fluffed free-kick routine and sent a left wing cross into Edwin van der Sar’s six-yard box where indecision between the keeper and centre-back Rio Ferdinand allowed Adebayor to score, although replays indicated he’d handled, not headed, the ball home.
Just as against Liverpool, Arsenal’s challenge was to hang onto the lead but - echoing the Anfield clash - they conceded a penalty within minutes to allow Ronaldo to level.
William Gallas’s clumsy handball presented the Portuguese with the spot-kick and Ronaldo kept his nerve to beat Lehmann twice after being ordered to retake the first effort after Park Ji-Sung had encroached into the box.
“That was some pressure wasn’t it,” Ferguson said of Ronaldo’s penalty.
Ferguson signalled his intention to go for victory by immediately introducing Anderson and Carlos Tevez and the move almost brought immediate reward when Tevez flashed a 30-yard drive inches wide.
“When Arsenal scored, it forced my hand,” Ferguson explained.
Arsenal responded by hitting the post when Brown inadvertently deflected Gael Clichy’s cross but the decisive moment of the game came in the 72nd minute when Patrice Evra was brought down by Gilberto Silva.
The position appeared tailor-made for Cristiano Ronaldo but instead it was Hargreaves who curled the ball over the wall and inside Lehmann’s right-hand post.
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