Arsenal vs Man United
Fisticuffs, fines, penalty shootouts, extra-time winners: fixtures between Arsenal and Manchester United have been heavy on needle for nearly 30 years. The Premier League hasn’t seen a rivalry as fierce or competitive as the one these two clubs shared in the late-1990s and early-2000s – and, in truth, the English top flight is a poorer place for it.
Games from that era inevitably dominate our slideshow, but there were some humdingers both before and after too. Here are the most memorable meetings between the Gunners and the Red Devils.
15. Man United 0-1 Arsenal, October 1990
Fight! Fight! Fight! Again! Again! Again!
In what would become a thrillingly regular occurrence, Arsenal and United's teams went head-to-head in a mass brawl which saw Paul Ince shove titchy Gunners winger Anders Limpar over an advertising hoarding.
The spark arrived with Arsenal leading 1-0 from a Limpar goal, but when team-mate Nigel Winterburn lunged at United's Denis Irwin with a spicy tackle, his act of aggression triggered a 21-man scrap from which only David Seaman had the decency to maintain distance.
The ruckus resulted in a one-point deduction for United and two for Arsenal, who'd been involved in a similar incident the previous year against Norwich. The terrors.
14. Arsenal 2-6 Man United, November 1990
In November 1990, these best of enemies put the rumble in the Rumbelows Cup. It was the match in which English football was introduced to the full brilliance of 19-year-old winger Lee Sharpe, who scored a triumphant hat-trick and infamously gyrated around a corner flag.
Meanwhile, Danny Wallace, freshly deployed as a centre-forward, proved unplayable against an Arsenal defence noted for being particularly stingy (indeed, they conceded only 18 goals in this title-winning campaign). Wallace's impressive performance proved a highlight in his otherwise average Red Devils career.
13. Man United 6-1 Arsenal, February 2001
United produced one of the best performances of the Alex Ferguson era with a 6-1 thrashing of Arsenal, a result which moved the Red Devils 16 points clear of the Gunners at the summit of the Premier League.
Arsenal were blown away by five first-half goals, with Dwight Yorke helping himself to a hat-trick inside the first 21 minutes. Teddy Sheringham then applied cherry to icing in the closing stages, sealing a famous victory which effectively ended the title race in February – as Ferguson acknowledged in his post-match press conference.
"It's our best result of the season," the Scot said. "Football can make you look a fool but I think that's Arsenal finished now.” It was.
12. Man United 2-0 Arsenal, January 1987
The game which lit the gasoline. When league leaders Arsenal lost at Old Trafford in grumpy circumstances, the result destabilised a promising title charge; the ensuing fisticuffs kick-started nearly 30 years of bad blood thanks to a robust performance from midfielder Norman Whiteside, who was later described by defender David O'Leary as "a wild nutter".
The Northern Irishman landed his boot on the arse of just about everyone not in a United shirt as they kicked their way to a 2-0 triumph. That Whiteside escaped the ref's notebook was an aberration; 19-year-old Arsenal midfielder David Rocastle didn't, sent off for lashing out in retaliation.
11. Man United 2-0 Arsenal, October 2004
After 49 Premier League games without defeat, Arsenal were finally beaten by their arch-enemies at Old Trafford. Ruud van Nistelrooy prodded the hosts ahead with a 73rd-minute penalty, before Wayne Rooney’s late strike sealed victory and left the Gunners with an unfamiliar and unwelcome feeling.
Perhaps that explains what happened in the aftermath of a game which was subsequently dubbed the Battle of the Buffet. With the Gunners unhappy at what they perceived to be a dive from Rooney for the penalty, tempers boiled over in the tunnel, with Cesc Fabregas eventually admitting in 2017 that it was he who chucked a slice of pizza at Alex Ferguson.
10. Man United 0-1 Arsenal, March 1998
With three games in hand and only six points behind table-toppers United, Arsenal were very much in control of their own destiny heading into this match at Old Trafford in the spring of 1998. A victory would halve the gap and land a psychologically crippling blow; a loss would hurl momentum United's way.
Alex Ferguson's side held out until 11 minutes before the end, when a long ball from Martin Keown was flicked into the path of Dutch winger Marc Overmars by his international team-mate, Dennis Bergkamp.
With a cheeky poke, Overmars stabbed the ball through Peter Schmeichel's legs – along with a knife to United's title ambitions. Arsenal went on to win the Double in Arsene Wenger's first full season in north London.
9. Arsenal 4-5 Man United, February 1958
This was the last fixture played by the Busby Babes before the Munich air disaster. Five young men in United's starting line-up at Highbury that day were killed – Duncan Edwards, Tommy Taylor, Mark Jones, Eddie Colman and skipper Roger Byrne. Both Taylor (twice) and Edwards netted in this epic game which also featured strikes from Bobby Charlton and Dennis Viollet.
While this was a match which always seemed out of Arsenal's reach (they were 3-0 down at half-time), they did at least bring drama to the encounter. Jimmy Bloomfield scored twice to draw the scores level at 3-3, before Viollet and Taylor put the match beyond their hosts in what was a dramatic and fitting farewell to English football.
8. Man United 0-0 Arsenal, September 2003
"Everything about him annoys me," wrote Patrick Vieira of Ruud van Nistelrooy in his autobiography. "He's always complaining, whinging. The man is a cheat and a coward. Everyone thinks he's a nice guy but in fact he's a son of a b****.”
The cause of his ire was a retaliatory kick from Vieira on the Dutchman in this 2003 encounter, which resulted in a second yellow card for the Arsenal midfielder and a mass brawl. Van Nistelrooy later took a tumble in the Gunners' penalty area to win a spot-kick which he missed, prompting antagonistic, boggle-eyed celebrations from Martin Keown.
Keown was later suspended for three games and received a £20,000 fine for his tantrum, while Roy Keane, Ray Parlour, Vieira and Ashley Cole also picked up fines.
7. Man United 8-2 Arsenal, August 2011
Arsene Wenger endured one of his worst days as Arsenal manager as United ran riot at Old Trafford. The Frenchman had been under pressure following a quiet summer of transfer activity and a 2-0 defeat by Liverpool eight days before, but he couldn’t have even envisaged such a chastening defeat in his worst nightmares.
A Wayne Rooney hat-trick, Ashley Young’s brace and further efforts from Danny Welbeck, Nani and Park Ji-sung did the damage, with Robin van Persie a rare bright spot for a Gunners team which featured a back four of Carl Jenkinson, Laurent Koscielny, Johan Djourou and Andre Santos.
"Of course you feel humiliated when you concede eight goals," Wenger told the BBC afterwards. "It was a terrible day."
6. Arsenal 0-0 Man United (5-4 on penalties), May 2005
This was far from a showpiece performance from Arsenal, but in terms of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, the Gunners delivered a telling lesson in the FA Cup final.
Comprehensively outplayed during 90 minutes and extra-time – the ‘1’ in Arsenal's 4-5-1 was false nine Dennis Bergkamp; Wayne Rooney hit the post; a Van Nistelrooy shot was deflected onto the bar – they took the trophy penalties. A Juve-bound Vieira scored the winning kick – his last in an Arsenal shirt.
"As a team, we were not as sharp as we can be," said Wenger. "But we are so resilient, and our team spirit is so strong. When you have such solidarity in the team, such mental unity, even when you don't play well you can win." Which is easier said than done, as the Frenchman has discovered himself in recent years.
5. Arsenal 1-3 Man United, May 2009
After a narrow 1-0 United win in the first leg at Old Trafford, there was everything still to play for in the reverse fixture of this Champions League semi-final in 2009. Alex Ferguson would probably have been happy had his side gone into half-time with the deadlock yet to be broken, but goals from Park Ji-sung and Cristiano Ronaldo in the opening 11 minutes put United in a much more commanding position than that.
Ronaldo put the tie beyond doubt shortly after the hour mark, rounding off a brilliant counter-attack to give the visitors a four-goal aggregate lead. Robin van Persie’s penalty restored a little pride for the Gunners, but it was United who proceeded to the Rome final, where they lost to Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona.
4. Man United 0-1 Arsenal, May 2002
With United targeting a fourth consecutive title triumph, Arsene Wenger's men – who were also in contention for the championship – sized up their opponents. United had been knackered by a gut-wrenching Champions League semi-final defeat by Bayer Leverkusen on away goals in midweek, with Alex Ferguson’s charges deemed to be psychologically bruised and there for the taking.
That assessment was spot on. Arsenal staged a smash-and-grab raid that halted United's charge and instead won them the title in the penultimate game of the season. It was hardly undeserved: Sylvain Wiltord's 57th minute winner meant Arsenal had emerged victorious from 12 matches in a row.
3. Arsenal 3-2 Man United, May 1979
An FA Cup final decided in five minutes of brain-melting chaos. With Arsenal leading 2-0 at half-time, a team which featured the likes of Liam Brady, Frank Stapleton and Pat Jennings looked to have laid to rest the ghosts of their previous FA Cup campaign, where they'd lost at Wembley to Bobby Robson's Ipswich Town.
That exorcism quickly took on Derek Acorah levels of credibility when United drew level in inexplicable circumstances, scoring in the 86th and 88th minutes through Gordon McQueen and Sammy McIlroy.
The Gunners’ panic was calmed at the death by broccoli-haired striker Alan Sunderland, whose winning goal – a lunging strike at the back stick – inspired one of the most memorable celebrations in cup final history, all fist pumps and wobbling barnet.
2. Arsenal 3-2 Man United, November 1997
It had only taken just over a year for Arsene Wenger’s revolution to really start taking shape. The north Londoners had started the 1997/98 season strongly, losing only one of their first 13 matches, but the welcoming of champs and table-toppers Manchester United to Highbury was easily their toughest test yet.
And yet Wenger's side took the lead when 18-year-old Nicolas Anelka brilliantly fired beyond Peter Schmeichel – his first Premier League goal. They were two up before the break when Patrick Vieira brilliantly swept a loose ball back across the Dane and into the net. Typically, United fought back and ex-Spurs striker Teddy Sheringham netted a speedy double to enrage the locals.
But Arsenal would have had the last laugh courtesy of David Platt's late header. The win moved Arsenal to within a point of top spot, and by May they were champions for the first time under Wenger era. A great rivalry was well under way.
1. Arsenal 1-2 Man United, April 1999
This pivotal fixture in United's charge towards a historical treble was decided in gruelling circumstances. Down to 10 men following Roy Keane's red card and carrying a walking wounded Ronny Johnsen, United entered extra time of this FA Cup semi-final with the odds firmly stacked against them.
And then along came Ryan Giggs, sidewinding his way through the Arsenal defence before smashing the ball past David Seaman in an attack reminiscent of a drunk negotiating a phalanx of high street traffic cones.
His celebration – a shirt-waving fit of histrionics which revealed a Magnum PI-style chest bush – was later cited as the stylistic inspiration behind Peter Jackson's King Kong remake. United, meanwhile, went on to win the final against Newcastle.
