Gunners Outgunned by United

Manchester United go one point behind Chelsea as they beat Arsenal 1-3 in a game United were well on top of.

Almunia (og) 33 after a cross by Nani who had a very good game. Second United goal came courtesy of Wayne Rooney after 37 minutes. In the second half, on 52 minutes Parkmade it 0-3, before the final goal of the match came for the Gunners by Vermaelen on 80 minutes.

Arsenal weren`t firing on all cylinders and United got their tactics just right.

Manchester Derby Thriller Sees Manchester United Through to Cup Final

A capacity crowd of over seventy four thousand at Old Trafford saw a thrilling encounter in the 2nd leg of the Carling Cup between Manchester United and Manchester City.

In the second half Paul Scholes scored first, putting the aggregate score at 2-2. Michael Carrick then scored putting the Reds 3-2 up. That man Tevez scored for City so it was then 3-3 heading for the extra period of 30 minutes. But, after 2 minutes of extra time added on by the referee, Wayne Rooney, who had another excellent game for Manchester United, headed the ball home from a wonderful Ryan Giggs cross.

Manchester United win 4-3 on aggregate and face Aston Villa in the Carling Cup final to be played on Sunday 28th February at Wembley.

Carling Cup Fast Becoming Grudge Match

Well, I`m really looking forward to the match tonight between the red side and the blue side of Manchester.

If Sir Alex Ferguson fields his strongest side (and I think he will now we are out of the FA Cup), then we are in with a good chance of beating Manchester City and getting through to the final of the Carling Cup.

It`s fast turning in to a `grudge` match, but hopefully it`ll have a lot of good flowing football - with of course Manchester United turning out victors. Both managers have been spoken to by the police in Manchester about the behaviour of the players.

Manchester United Disappointed in Carling Cup

At 0-1 up I thought Manchester United had it in them to go on and score more against a defensive Manchester City side in the 1st leg of the Carling Cup semi finals last night.

Unfortunately Giggs`s goal wasn`t enough. True, Mancester City needed the help of a referee who gave them a penalty that never was. And of course it would have to be Carlos Tevez, the Old Trafford reject who stepped up to take it and score. Is anyone convinced he wouldn`t prefer to have stayed at United? I`m not, judging by his celebrations afterwards. I think he`d still like to be with the Champions.

Looks like Gary Neville may be in trouble with the FA after cameras caught his one finger gesture to Tevez who made a meal of it all after his two goals. Maybe the FA should look at his provocative gestures too.

Anyway, United host the blues next week for the return leg. No question about it, Wayne Rooney needs a partner up front, a Berbatov, or an Owen who gets more than 20 minutes on the field after coming on as sub last night way too late in the day.

A 2-1 lead shouldn`t be enough for City to stop the Reds going to the Carling Cup final.

Mame Biram Diouf on Target For Manchester United

If some of Burnley`s shots had gone in during the first hour of yesterday`s match between them and Manchester United the result could have been very different.

United somehow managed to keep a clean sheet despite some good attacks by Burnley. But, fortunately for the Red Devils, under-fire Dimitar Berbatov opened the scoring past the hour mark.

Wayne Rooney and new boy Mame Biram Diouf were both on target too, giving United a 3-0 win and keeping them isn second place in the Premiership.

This was a game in which the performance was nowhere near as important as the result.

Tasty Carling Cup Rearranged Semi Final - Manchester City v Manchester United

I`m looking forward to the rearanged 1st leg of the rearranged Carling Cup semi final between Manchester City and Manchester United. The game is scheduled for January 19th, due to the fact the first time around the match couldn`t go ahead due to the bad weather - snow and ice around the ground.

Usually these derby matches are good encounters, though whether Fergie will put out his strongest team is still being speculated upon.

United have done rather better than City over the years in winning domestic cups.

But, one of the most famous City Cup victories was back in 1956 in the FA Cup when they beat Birmingham City by 3-1, watched by a 100,000 crowd. That was when Manchester City goalkeeper, Bert Trautmann, continued playing despite breaking a bone in his neck in a collision with Birmingham's Peter Murphy.

Birmingham City 1 - 1 Manchester United

Birmingham have had a terrific run, being unbeaten in their past 12 league games.

In today`s late match United made the running, but Birmingham were organised.

Last weekend both managers rested key players in the FA Cup. There was no question of that here, and their respective line-ups were at full strength. But it wasn`t enough for United. They concede the first goal, and it was an own goal that gave the Red Devils the equaliser.

To compound Sir Alex Ferguson's irritation, Darren Fletcher was sent off in the 84th minute for a second yellow cards.

A pity really, because a win for United would have put them at the top of the Premiership with Chelsea`s match being called off due to the bad weather.

FA Cup Loss

Jermaine Beckford's first half goal put United out of this year`s FA Cup. The score ended up 0-1 at Old Trafford.

I have to admit Leeds United looked hungrier, they pressed Manchester United for most of the game, and they got the victory they deserved.

Even the three substitutions Fergie made in the second half failed to turn things round. Owen and Rooney missed some sitters.