Manchester United 2 Arsenal 1

The Premier League game between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford on Saturday Aug 29, 2009.

It will go down as one of the iconic moments of the season. Having seen his side denied a late equaliser through the linesman’s offside flag, Arsène Wenger was sent off by referee Mike Dean for his protests.

The Arsenal manager climbed to the back of the dugout but was told he needed to move to the stands.

So he clambered up above the benches, standing on a platform in front of the directors box, arms spread out in mockery. Happy now? It was symbolically rich moment.

You could understand his frustration if not his actions. His Arsenal side had somehow lost to an unconvincing United courtesy of an unlikely penalty and a freak own goal. No wonder Wenger’s sensitivity to persecution was at its rawest.

Arsenal will receive a £25,000 FA fine after they received six bookings – United had three in an ill tempered game – and with one of them coming for Emmanuel Eboue’s dive, Wenger will again have to defend his side from the accusations of cheating.

What with the furore about Eduardo’s dive in midweek, Mike Dean evidently didn’t want to be duped by into giving away a penalty.

Unfortunately he took that to the point of absurdity shortly before half time. The ball had broken to an unmarked Arshavin in the far side of the penalty box.

Darren Fletcher, firefighter supreme, came sprinting across, slipped and absolutely flattened the Russian. It even looked like he handled the ball in committing the foul. A more certain penalty you will not see all season; Dean waved play on.

Wenger’s touchline apoplexy – already at arm-flapping levels of intensity over United’s persistent fouling – was understandable but was calmed by the delivery of almost instant compensation by the football gods.

Arshavin certainly is capable of exploiting the physics of kicking a ball with results beyond the ability of most mortals. Just moments after picking himself up in disbelief after Fletcher’s challenge, he received the ball some 25 yards out and, with Nemanja Vidic failing to close, sent the ball hurtling into the near post with illogical power.

It was the goal the game needed. Until that point it had suffered from a lack of cohesive play – particularly from an inarticulate United – and a nasty undercurrent that had produced four bookings. With Dimitar Berbatov dropped, Rooney was often left on his own up front and chances were few.

Fletcher had sent an early left-footed volley over but otherwise United’s usually ruthless counterattacking lacked conviction. And there can be few games where an Alex Ferguson side has so frequently surrendered possession.

Arsenal certainly played with more menace. With 25 minutes gone they almost opened the scoring, Van Persie cutting inside Vidic and shooting, his effort deflecting off Patrice Evra and wide. The ball broke to Arshavin from the ensuing corner and the Russian cleverly tried to squeeze the ball into the top corner, sending it just wide.

The outstanding Arshavin was involved again as Arsenal came close to extending their lead minutes after the restart. He seemed to get the ball stuck under his feet running into the area but then surged to the byline and drove a low cross in to Van Persie. The Dutchman met the ball crisply but Ben Foster stuck out his left boot to stop it crossing the line.

A superb reaction save and the hinge in the game. From that moment things began to swing in United’s favour as the game ramped up in intensity. Out of nowhere, United had a penalty.

Rooney raced Almunia for a ball that had in behind Gallas, got their first and was brought down by the goalkeeper. Penalty? There were several problems with the decision.

First was the fact that Rooney was not in control of the ball and had he not been touched the ball would have shot out for a goal kick.

The second issue was that Rooney was already going down before Almunia made contact. Still, contact in the area: penalty. Rooney converted calmly.

Arsenal swiftly tried to recover the lead. Abou Diaby went surging down the right and was fouled by first Rooney and then Wes Brown.

Both were booked and from the free kick, Van Persie hit a viciously swerving shot that thudded into the middle of the cross bar.

Two minutes later and United had a wide free kick of their own which Ryan Giggs sent swinging into the Arsenal box. What happened next was bizarre.

Diaby, completely on his own was comfortably under the incoming ball but inexplicably guided his header into his own net.

The was the chance to put some stoppage-time gloss on the result when united, belatedly, counterattacked with real potency, Rooney finding Nani who hit the pass of the game with the outside of his boot for Berbatov to chase.

The Bulgarian mis-hit his shot embarrassingly. Nani wasted an equally inviting chance moments later. The points were safe by then though, surely?

Had William Gallas not drifted offside, Van Persie's late equaliser might well have stood and Wenger would have been spared his dramatic exit.