ARSENAL 2, MAN UNITED 1: Nasri’s double blow for United

THE Premier League title race took another dramatic twist with Manchester United’s surprise defeat at Arsenal.

Judging by the crisis which appeared to be enveloping the Gunners, it looked an away banker when the Reds visited the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal had already lost in the league to minnows Fulham, Hull and Stoke and another defeat would have effectively ended their title hopes as Arsene Wenger’s leadership had been questioned for the first time earlier in the week.

It was certainly a watershed for Wenger, not only for this campaign but possibly also his future at the club.

The criticisms certainly appeared to have galvanised the team as they remain on the shirt-tails of co-leaders Chelsea and Liverpool.

Wenger said: “I can imagine what would have happened if we had lost. It was a big game for the future of this team and for the club.

“It was very important to stay close to the top of the Premier League and to show the kind of defensive spirit and mental attitude to keep going no matter what happens.”

Sir Alex Ferguson, however, must be analysing what went wrong as his team now finds itself eight points adrift of the top two though, admittedly, they have a match in hand.

Ferguson possibly should shoulder a portion of the blame because this season he has lacked consistency with his team selection.

Ferguson made seven changes from the Champions League game at Celtic so is it any wonder the team is lacking the cohesion displayed last season?

Once again the clash of the two rivals proved to be a wonderful spectacle from the opening minute when Arsenal keeper Manuel Almunia picked up a back pass, though United were unable to punish that error from the resulting free kick. It was an indication of how nervous Arsenal were after their recent troubles.

United produced an early onslaught as Dimitar Berbatov had the ball in the net after Wayne Rooney’s shot was parried by Almunia, though the Bulgarian had strayed offside while Rooney blazed over when well placed.

But it was Arsenal who took the lead midway through the opening half when Samir Nasri’s drive from the edge of the penalty area took a wicked deflection off Gary Neville to wrong-foot keeper Edwin van der Sar.

It was amazing the opening period yielded only one goal as both teams had chances, Ji-Sung Park forcing Almunia into a super save while Gael Clichy almost headed into his own goal.

Arsenal doubled their advantage soon after the restart when Frenchman Nasri, bought to replace Aleksander Hleb, struck again with a spectacular drive from the edge of the penalty area. Gunners’ fans were in heaven.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Rooney wasted clear-cut chances for United who pulled a goal back in the 90th minute from an unlikely source, 17-year-old right-back Rafael da Silva who had replaced Gary Neville.

Ronaldo layed off the ball to Silva who produced a piece of Brazilian magic by curling in an exquisite shot from the edge of the penalty area past reserve keeper Lucasz Fabianski, who replaced the injured Almunia for the final 14 minutes.

That provided a lifeline for the Reds.

However, in six minutes of injury time they were unable to break through the home defence for a second time, though they had a remarkable 20 attempts at goal in the match - an unusually high number for a team visiting the Emirates Stadium.