Last update 16 November, 2012 by Julio Muñoz
With an early goal from the Dutchman Robin Van Persie and another from the Frenchman Patrice Evra, who finished off the duel twenty minutes from the end, Manchester United won today at Old Trafford by 2-1 against an Arsenal that worked to avoid a win and that made up the result through the Spanish Santi Cazorla.
Although a tense and balanced duel was expected before the initial whistle, the first leak in the Arsenal ship opened already in the third minute.
Belgian defender Thomas Vermaelen, perhaps one of the less inspired footballers of the afternoon, he failed to deny a cross from the right by Brazilian Rafael Da Silva and left a soft ball on the edge of the area ready for the left-hander Van Persie to launch a forehand without thinking twice that knocked out Italian goalkeeper Vito Mannone.
Los “gunners” They hadn't had time to take the measurements yet. “Teatro de los Sueños”, where last season they received a historic 8-2 against, and his former partner had already hit squarely in his first shot.
From there, Arsenal could only row against the current against a sober and experienced United that did not allow the visitors to recover balls or create danger beyond midfield.
in the first time, between Van Persie and Wayne Rooney signed more than three clear chances, while those of Wenger hardly gave signs of life to the goalkeeper of the “diablos rojos”, Spaniard David De Gea.
On the brink of rest, Rooney missed what could have been the 2-0: the Spanish Santi Cazorla intercepted the ball with his hands inside the area when he covered his face against a shot from outside the area.
Wilshere's expulsion only caused Wenger's to apply for avoiding a win
The English international took responsibility from eleven meters, but his open and low shot to the left post, whose trajectory Mannone had hit, went a few inches off the baseline.
The shower at halftime did not change the dynamics of a duel in which the usual connection between Cazorla and the German Lukas Podolski was less solid than on other occasions.
The Ecuadorian Antonio Valencia was about to score the second of the locals as soon as the second half began, but he missed a shot from the small area and opened a fleeting stretch of the match in which the “gunners” they took control of the duel.
The entry of the Englishman Theo Walcott and the inspiration of Cazorla served for Wenger's men to take a breath and threaten to overcome the duel, but at the best of visitors, a rehearsed play by United settled the game in the 67.
Cazorla, Arsenal's most decisive player, scored a great goal in discount
Coming out of a corner, Rooney sent a thread to the center of the area so that Frenchman Patrice Evra got ahead of Vermaelen and planted a 2-0 Visibly insurmountable for an Arsenal without resources this afternoon.
The expulsion of Englishman Jack Wilshere in the absence of a quarter of an hour only made Wenger's men apply themselves to avoid a win in the last minutes, in which the ghost of the beating suffered by the “gunners” on the same stage last season.
beyond the minute 90, everyone at Old Trafford had called it a day, except the referee and Santi Cazorla, who took the ball inside the area and drew a parabola to score Arsenal's only goal and leave in the “Dream Theater” the personal signature of Arsenal's most decisive player so far this season.