Manchester United 1 v 0 Arsenal

Old Trafford, Manchester
1st December 2004

A second-string Manchester United side managed to overcome Arsenal's up and coming youngsters to earn a place in the Carling Cup Semi-Finals.

Ronaldo was rested and wasn't even on the bench as Phil Neville took up the captaincy of the team, and led the likes of Richardson, Eagles and more experienced players such as O'Shea and Kleberson into battle.

The game was won in 18.6 seconds, with David Bellion running far too easily past the entire Arsenal defence, only to blast it at the keeper. Fortunatley, Almunia had been taking lessons from Lehmann, and promptly palmed the ball past himself and into the back of the net!

Tne only other flashpoint was when Van Persie, an outright cheat throughout the match with both dives and late tackles, elbowed or tried to elbow Richardson. Somehow both got booked - no one is quite sure what the referee was looking at and Van Persie was lucky to stay on. I hate him already and I've only seen him a few times!

Bring on Chelsea at home in the Semis.

Man Utd: Howard, Phil Neville, Brown, O'Shea, Fortune, Eagles (Rossi 79), Djemba-Djemba, Miller, Richardson, Kleberson (Jones 79), Bellion.

Subs Not Used: Ricardo, Pique, Ebanks-Blake.
Booked: Richardson.
Goals: Bellion 1.

Arsenal: Almunia, Hoyte, Senderos, Djourou, Clichy (Karbassiyoon 81), Pennant, Flamini, Larsson (Cregg 72), Owusu-Abeyie, Lupoli (Smith 68), Van Persie.

Subs Not Used: Simek, Wright.
Booked: Van Persie.

Att: 67,103.
Ref: M Halsey (Lancashire).