It used to be the highlight of the Premier League calendar, not a mid-table scrap but that’s what Manchester United vs Arsenal now is – on paper at least.
The once bitter enemies find themselves in the bottom half of the table when at one stage it was a battle between first and second.
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Neutrals looked forward to watching the heavyweights lock horns for Premier League dominance and when United skipper Roy Keane attempted to flatten nemesis Patrick Vieira in the tunnel before a league match in 2005, supporters were gripped.
Tensions between clubs were at an all-time high, so understandably the thrill of seeing who will finish tenth isn’t quite so appealing.
It hasn’t been the same since Keane shouted ‘I’ll see you out there’.
“It was a time where the Arsenal players were Arsenal players for life and the Man United players were Man United players for life,” Arsene Wenger recalled to talkSPORT.
“So that of course exacerbated the rivalry because it was ‘you owe me’ and you hated each other.
“On top of that you had characters – you speak of Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira; Keane was always on the fringe of violence even if he was a great player.
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“The rivalry between me and Alex; I was a foreign manager coming in and disturbing his reign, and he didn’t like it. He didn’t like it and he hated to lose and I hated to lose, so at some stage it was overboard.
“But with time, when the competition went, the relationship became better. And today it is peaceful and friendly.”
However, the bitter rivalry that was so entertaining in the 1990s and early noughties actually pre-dated Keane vs Vieira and Wenger vs Sir Alex Ferguson.
In fact, it pre-dated the Premier League, beginning in January 1987, according to Fergie – nine years before Wenger’s arrival in north London.
“There was a fierce rivalry when George Graham was there and I’d just come down,” he told The Times in 2009.
“Arsenal had been on a 22-game unbeaten run and then we beat them at Old Trafford and it was one of those games when big Norman [Whiteside] did about 45 fouls and never got booked. How he got away with it I’ll never know,” he added.
Graham has never forgotten his first exchange with his compatriot.
“David O’Leary was getting kicked all over the place by Norman Whiteside,” he told The Guardian.
“David Rocastle was provoked so much that he got sent off and there was a big row coming off the pitch. Alex Ferguson and his then assistant Archie Knox were right in our faces and I thought: ‘Jesus Christ! That’ll be the first and last time they intimidate us. We’re not going to be bullied any more’.”
A year later Arsenal beat United in an FA Cup tie and Nigel Winterburn goaded Brian McClair for missing a penalty.
That incident then had an influence on a 21-man brawl in 1990, which saw both clubs deducted points – two for Arsenal and one for United.
“Maybe it means we won the actual brawl,” Perry Groves, who was part of that Arsenal squad, joked with talkSPORT.
“After the game, George told us it was exactly what he wanted – players looking out for each other. He said: ‘That’s what I’m saying in here, but in the press I’m going to have to say I don’t condone it and it’s not how I expect my players to behave’. I think a couple of the lads got fined a week’s wages!”
Fast forward a few years to Wenger’s era, beginning in 1996 and Arsenal, league champions in 1989 and 1991, began to challenge United’s early dominance in the Premier League.
Both teams were evenly matched after that and only the finest of margins separated them in league and cup competitions, with the Gunners a missed Dennis Bergkamp penalty away from a place in the 1999 FA Cup final, which would have ended United’s treble dream.
Other notable incidents include Phil Neville receiving a yellow card after just 27 SECONDS in the 2003 Community Shield for crunching Vieira.
In 2003, six Arsenal players and two United stars were charged with improper conduct following the ‘Battle of Old Trafford,’ with Arsenal charged for ‘failing to ensure the proper behaviour of their players’.
Ringleader on the day, Martin Keown revealed even his wife had told him he’d gone too far in his confrontation with Ruud van Nistelrooy.
A year, Man United ended Arsenal’s 49-game unbeaten run in a match that became known as the ‘Battle of the Buffet’. Furious players clashed in the tunnel afterwards culminating in Cesc Fabregas throwing a slice of pizza at Ferguson’s face.
Then there was Keane and Vieira, captains of United and Arsenal respectively and winners who brought out the best in each other. “I had a lot of hatred for Arsenal, because they were our big rivals,” Keane told ITV in 2013.
“He’s my favourite enemy,” Vieira added.
Ferguson and Wenger, meanwhile, was the feud that kept on giving.
“Our mental duels keep me awake,” the former Arsenal boss once said about Fergie’s mind games.
“There were confrontations, because there were two teams and two managers battling for one award: the Premier League,” Fergie told United Review.
“In my time, we had a few arguments but I always did really respect the man because he did a fantastic job at his club.”
It was drama us fans couldn’t get enough of and arguably, the rivalry made the Premier League.
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