Man Utd vs Arsenal Champions League Preview: Revival of a Rivalry

By: Daryl | April 29th, 2009

Remember when the Premier League was Man Utd and Arsenal’s to fight over? Before Abramovich and his wallet arrived the title race was basically Fergie vs Wenger scratching each other’s eyes out, and it felt like that rivalry would last forever. It had everything: Angry Brit vs Fancypants Foreigner, old school two eyes vs new school four eyes, whisky vs wine.

Doing a spot of Googling about said rivalry, I came across this timeline up to 2005 from 4TheGame and the following selection of quotes via The Times:

Ferguson on Wenger

“He’s a novice – he should keep his opinions to Japanese football.” April 1997

“Their behaviour was the worst thing I have seen in this sport. They got off scot-free.” Oct 2004

“Arsenal are the worst losers of all time.” Jan 2005

“To not apologise for the behaviour of the players to another manager is unthinkable. It’s a disgrace, but I don’t expect Wenger to ever apologise, he’s that type of person.” Jan 2005

Wenger on Ferguson

“Everyone thinks they have the prettiest wife at home.” May 2002

“I will never answer any question any more about this man. He doesn’t interest me and doesn’t matter to me at all. I will never answer to any provocation from him any more.” Jan 2005

“He has lost all sense of reality. He is going out looking for a confrontation, then asking the person he is confronting to apologise.” Jan 2005

But then Chelsea (and to a lesser extent Liverpool) broke up that not so happy club and Wenger started to take the youth+beauty combo a little too seriously. The Fergie vs Wenger rivalry lost its edge because they stopped going head to head.

That changes today, with a spot in the Champions League final to fight for. It’ll be a lot more friendly than the embarrassing cattiness above obviously, because the passing of time has settled their differences. But still great to see two of English footballs greatest rivals sending teams out with something big at stake.

Fergie vs Wenger isn’t the only reason to watch this game of course. The single best reason to watch is as follows: Both these teams are dangerous going forwards and more than a little wobbly at the back. So for both teams attack might literally be the best form of defence. If that’s not the recipe for a cracking game of football then I don’t know what is.

Match Previews: You want previews? We got previews.

Martin is understandably worried about The Gunners’ defensive options on Arsenal Offside.

Wenger has made it clear that he wants an away goal: “The rules, the modern rules, encourage teams at home to be cautious and the away team to be audacious. To score an away goal could be very important,” he said.

He can’t play the cup-tied Andrei Arshavin or the injured Robin van Persie, so we could see Cesc Fabregas sitting behind Emmanuel Adebayor and giving Ferdinand and Vidic all sorts of headaches from there. And if Wenger saw Aaron Lennon repeatedly roasting Patrice Evra on Saturday, then he’ll be sending Theo Walcott out to do the same job (only better, obviously).

And if you can take the day off work, then you’ll probably have just enough time to read Taylor and Wayne’s Man Utd vs Arsenal Mega Preview on Man Utd Offside. You have been warned.

To prove that the away goal has turned football upside down by making the home team more defensive, Fergie has been the man making the more cautious noises: “We need to win without losing a goal, put it that way,” he said. Even so, I can’t see Man Utd sitting back at Old Trafford while Arsenal’s defence is in bits. Can you?

LiveBlog: Chris and myself will be LiveBlogging this one CiL style, from about 30 minutes before kick off.

Prediction: I’m playing it safe with a 1-1 draw. But with this caveat: It will be one of the most enjoyable 1-1 draws you’ve ever seen.

Odds: The bookies make Man Utd odds on favourites to win this first leg. Not sure I agree.
Win/Draw/Win 1st leg: Man Utd 5/6, Draw 12/5, Arsenal 7/2
To go through: Man Utd 4/7, Arsenal 5/4
1-1 draw: 5/1
Adebayor to score first: 15/2
More odds at PaddyPower

Bonus Prediction: The post match drink shared by Fergie and Wenger will be…. winesky: A mixture of French wine and Scotch whisky that the two men invented in order to solve their feud. The plan is to join forces and focus on marketing the drink after they both retire.

How do you see this one going? (the game, not the winesky marketing)