manchester united 2 arsenal 0

in the end, it was really wayne rooney one and a half, arsenal zero.

in a scrappy affair between the most dominant sides in english football in the last decade, the home team prevailed 2-0, ending arsenal's 49-unbeaten record in the process.

manchester united started the match the more intent side. the red devils started without their inspirational captain, roy keane, but looked the hungier side. they were first to the ball and made a couple of crucial midfield interventions. keane's replacement, the imperious phil neville huffed and puffed. the arsenal midfield duo of viera and edu was largely anonymous in the match. the red devils choosing to bypass the centre and spraying long balls for their wingers, ryan giggs and ronaldo to chase. manchester united could have gone ahead on many occasions in the first half -- they had trouble connecting the crucial last touch and they were awfully lacking in the last third of the field. stand in skipper, rio ferdinand, had a flawless game but should have been sent off for shoving ljunberg as the latter chased a goal bound ball.

arsenal began to exert their authority into the match as viera and edu begin to take charge. by their own high standards, the gunners seemed to be out of sorts today. despite their slick passing game, they just couldn't convert the many chances that came their way. just as the match seemed to be heading for a goalless draw, a probing ball into the gunners penalty area was latched on by rooney as he embarked on the fateful ditz past campbell. a penalty was controversially awarded to the home side as he subsequently tumbled from a challenge by his england colleague. ruud van nistelrooy scored from the spot to exorcise the demons from the same fixture last season which descended into a fracas that had 4 gunners banned.

the second goal started with substitute louis saha's pass to another sub, alan smith -- whose presence of mind to catch rooney on the far side was commendable just as it was unselfish. the goal came at the end of a counter offensive that caught an arsenal side napping at the back as they poured forward in search of that elusive equaliser.

in a match where there was hardly any dominant player on the pitch, the scoreline perhaps flattered the home side. henry mysteriously lost his touch -- he went on a couple of useful runs, but they remained just that. reyes was effectively shut out of the game -- he appeared non too prepared for the english game, falling over several times from even seemingly innoculous challenges. his replacement, robert pires, came on too late to salvage anything from the match.

perhaps it was never meant to be. perhaps retributive justice had to be served as the spectre of arsenal's swaggering arrogance and scant regard for their opponents last term appeared to hang over the match proceedings. the match threatened to boil over a few times. the referee matt riley had a patchy game -- although all associated with arsenal will have a lot to say about that penalty. perhaps the rain at the end of the match were tears of joy. from heaven no less. of justice prevailing at the theatre of dreams.

will this signal the revival of the red devils' premiership campaign? your guess is as good as mine. i'll be keeping my fingers crossed. the deposed english league champions certainly didn't have the fluidity in their game as their treble-victorious predecessors class of '99 did, but this could only have been the beginning for what is effectively fergie's third team.