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Man United and Arsenal draw 0-0
Manchester United and Arsenal played out a goalless draw in the English Premier League at Old Trafford on Sunday.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 08:48 AM IST
Read Time:3 min
Manchester:
Ruud van Nistelrooy smacked a stoppage-time penalty against the crossbar as 10-man Arsenal escaped with a point from a battling goalless draw against Manchester United in the English Premier League at Old Trafford on Sunday. Arsenal had skipper Patrick Vieira sent off after 81 minutes by referee Steve Bennett who then awarded United a penalty after 92 minutes of the game after he ruled Martin Keown had hauled down Diego Forlan in the box. The result was enough to take Arsenal back to the top of the table on 14 points, displacing Chelsea on 13, while Manchester United stay third, also on 13 points. Manchester United and Arsenal met in the English Premier League match of the weekend at Old Trafford on Sunday after conflicting UEFA Champions League results in midweek. The champions thrashed Panathinaikos five-nil, while the north London club suffered a three-nil hammering at home by Inter Milan. After a quiet opening, Ryan Giggs almost put the home side in front after 14 minutes when his free-kick was allowed to float across the Arsenal goal, with Jens Lehmann static as it flicked off his right-hand post. Six minutes later, Giggs sent a free-kick curling to the far post where Ruud van Nistelrooy rose and headed onto the roof of the net. The home side had the better of a poor first half and Cristiano Ronaldo had two late efforts, the second of which Lehmann saved comfortably. Goalless at the break and the first chance of the second half came on 56 minutes when Gary Neville's quick throw was collected by van Nistelrooy, but the Dutch striker fired straight at Lehmann. The game became bogged down in a midfield battle with little action in the final third of the field and then the game exploded as the game moved towards its climax. With nine minutes remaining, Arsenal were reduced to ten men when captain Patrick Vieira was sent off for a second bookable offence for kicking out at van Nistelrooy, although he failed to make contact. The Frenchman became the third Arsenal player to be sent off in consecutive fixtures against Sir Alex Ferguson's side. Then, with the game in stoppage time, Diego Forlan went tumbling under pressure from Martin Keown in the penalty area and United were presented with a chance to claim all three points. Van Nistelrooy though, crashed his penalty against the bar, his third spot-kick miss of the season and Arsenal escaped, but several Arsenal players, led by Keown, celebrated directly in van Nistelrooy's face as he walked away from his failed spot-kick. The final whistle also brought further confrontational scenes involving both sets of players. The draw enabled Arsenal to move back to the top of the Premiership on 14 points, one ahead of Chelsea. (AP)Topics mentioned in this article
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