Manchester United vs. Arsenal - 1-0 to the Champions!

Hmmm, what does one say when your team beats its greatest rival of the modern day by comprehensively outplaying them on Europe's biggest stage? Take care it doesn't come back to bite you in the ass.

United won 1-0. My team prediction before the game was off a little as O'Shea was preferred to Rafael (wise, wise move), Anderson was preferred to Giggs and Tevez's work against Tottenham won him the starting spot against a major team that he has been pleading for. The team was set up to harry and chase down Arsenal's slick players and that is exactly what they did.

United started extremely positively and the rush of chances came courtesy of Arsenal losing the ball far too easily. Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez were willing to run at the defenders especially young Kieran Gibbs. He was most impressive though, showing great speed to keep up with the likes of Ronaldo and good presence of mind to make the forwards work for their bread.

The ace in the hole for United was clearly Mikael Silvestre. Selling him was one of the wisest decisions Fergie has made. No pace, no presence of mind and poor reading of the game has turned him into a liability for Arsenal on the pitch. On this night he conspired to make Arsenal all the more jittery, as if the meaning of this game wasn't enough.

The goal when it came showed Arsenal's weakness at marking in the box. The players gravitated en masse towards the ball leaving 3 United players alone on the near side. When the ball came back that way via Carrick and Silvestre, O'Shea had all day to pick his spot. A good goal and it felt there was a lot more to come. As it turns out Ronaldo squandered a golden chance and a couple of more attacks should have yielded more but United ended the half happy, feeling they were on the cusp of scoring once more.

The second half was a staid affair as Arsenal regained some composure. Fabregas dropped back into midfield but isolated Adebayor. The other forwards never tried to get into the game. Few balls were played out wide to Walcott but then he didn't do much with it when he got it. Adebayor was lazy and didn't fight enough for the ball. And may Diaby remain at Arsenal for years to come. He's a 12th man for the other team if ever there was one. Very Silvestre-esque of him to give the ball away consistently.

The second leg now holds a few lessons for Arsenal more so than for United. Conveniently, Silvestre is injured so either Song or more probably Djourou will play in defence. That will deprive United of a crucial edge. Knowing that they must score, Arsenal may opt to play 2 strikers though with Eduardo having injured himself in his cameo I wonder if he will opt for Bendtner. Bendtner won't scare the United defence too much and he drew a lot of ire from Andy Gray on Wednesday. A gaffe by Van der Saar meant that if Bendtner had guided his header goaldwards in the 85th minute, Arsenal could have equalized. For the next 5 minutes Gray harped on about the ease with which that goal should have been scored. If he does play, that is yet another boon to United. I feel though that Walcott will be switched to the left to take on O'Shea. It is the obvious move to make and it is surprising it wasn't made in the game itself. O'Shea is slow and more easily exploitable for Walcott although he will have to cut in and pass/shoot as compared to play the ball behind and cross. But then that is the Arsenal way with wingers so may work in their favour.

United need to nick a goal, hopefully early. The same formation would do just fine and given Giggs and Scholes played the entire game today against Middlesbrough, I don't foresee any role for them on Tuesday night. Closing down Arsenal's midfield is key to force them into mistakes. Also key will be Ronaldo keeping himself in control. He was petulant beyond what I thought was possible but then he produces those magical moment like his 35 yard shot that hit the crossbar. He also spent far too much time in offside positions which meant that players had to hold play up till he was in line for a ball to be played. If the ball is to be played in quickly for best use, he must make the runs in as compared to standing and waiting for it. Against Arsenal at the Emirates the team needs to show its hunger, not behave like foolish kings.

The tie is still finely poised but it sure does inspire some confidence that Rome awaits the champions.