Man United 1 Arsenal 0: Former Gunner Van Persie fires Moyes' men to victory

They huffed and they puffed, but like the wolf, Arsenal could not blow down the brick wall that was United’s defence, no matter who played at centre half.

In a game that was similar to the old battles between these two great sides, it was a fascinating game, and as normally happens in these type of games, it is one piece of genius that usually decides them, and despite Arsenal’s growing pressure in the second half, United keeper David De Gea never had a save of note to make, but what he was called upon to do, he did with growing assurance, and the defence certainly have full confidence in him.

United’s back six were incredible, Chris Smalling was without doubt, yesterday’s man of the match, in a must win game for United he never missed a tackle, was never caught out of position, and made some incredible last-ditch interceptions, he is United’s future, make no mistake about it, it is a shame he couldn’t cap it off by taking a late chance at the back post.

Unusually United had to use three centre backs, the first half was Evans and Vidic, who were very rarely tested but looked comfortable with what ever came there way, and after Vidic’s head injury, Phil Jones went back into centre half, and the biggest compliment I can pay him, was how much more Arsenal’s midfield came into it 2nd half when he came out of that department, indeed there must be worry at the Emirates Stadium today because Ozil has been nowhere to be seen since 4pm today, but Jones did have a big pocket. The only blot on Jones’ copybook was the ridiculous booking he picked up for, what most of the world saw as an accidental clash of heads, but the referee was certainly too fussy and too sharp with the cards.

 United began the game at a fast tempo which took Arsenal by surprise, instrumental in that was the passing of Carrick, and the wing play and work rate from Valencia, there can be no doubt, that the right winger is returning to his finest form, he gave United an outlet when under pressure, and some of his lung busting 70 yards runs were just what United wanted.

The only negative from the was Shinji Kagawa again, the game passed him by, he lacks the physicality needed in the Premier League, it does seem like his time at Old Trafford is limited unless he can become used to the pace of the English game.

Yesterday's game was won with the quality of United’s top two, the interchanging, the strength, the hold-up play, and the threat of Rooney and Van Persie was immense, but over all of that was their work rate, if you have two strikers who work so hard and close down oppositions back 4, the rest of the team can do nothing but feed off that, Van Persie showed his true colors, the timing of the run on the goal, was perfect, and even better to United fans was his celebration, it meant a lot to him today without a doubt.

So United are now back in the title race, make no mistake about it, Victory over Arsenal changes the makeup of United’s season entirely. Now just five points behind Arsenal, we are in a strong position. The league leaders still have to play the majority of the teams around them whereas we have a really good run of games ahead. The season starts now.