Red cards, fights and a pizza slice: The famous mutual hatred between United and Arsenal

The greatest rivalries are immortalised by those who remember them.

It’s a while since Manchester United vs. Arsenal got the pulses racing - where the rest of the footballing world slammed the shutters tight and waited with bated breath to discover which gang would emerge victorious from the annual OK Corral-esque shootout.

Individual battles raged both on and off the field: Van Nistelrooy vs. Keown, Keane vs. Viera, Ferguson vs. Wenger… and unlike that famous 1881 shootout in Tombstone, Arizona, this rivalry raged for almost a decade rather than 30 seconds.

But from 2003-2005, the two heavyweights of English football – to put it bluntly – had a bit of a meltdown. Unbeaten runs, stoppage time missed penalties, horror tackles, tunnel spats and stray pizza slices; forget the accolades and the honours, Manchester United and Arsenal, albeit briefly, were most likely the pantheon of footballing shithousery.

Round 1: Manchester United 0-0 Arsenal – Sunday 21st September 2003

Our epic tale begins with a goalless draw, but within this uninspiring result nested a controversial sending off, a last-minute penalty and an unnecessary amount of taunting towards a Dutch striker.

Both sides had begun the season relatively well, and a cagey encounter was heading towards a forgettable 0-0, until United’s Ruud Van Nistelrooy fouled Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira when challenging for an aerial ball. Vieira was left sprawled on the floor, with Van Nistelrooy seemingly putting his hands up in apology, before the Frenchman flailed a wild leg in the forward’s direction.

The United striker’s overzealous reaction seemed to derive from shock rather than play acting, but it was enough to convince referee Steve Bennett to show Vieira a second yellow. The Arsenal players weren’t happy with Van Nistelrooy’s contribution to the incident but Vieira himself was incensed, barging his way through a crowd of players to confront the Dutchman.

Into stoppage time it looked to have got even worse for the Gunners, as Gary Neville whipped an inviting cross into the near post, only for Diego Forlan to be hauled down by Martin Keown in the box.

A penalty to United in stoppage time? There was only one person for it: the man involved in all the earlier controversy but who had forged a reputation as a ruthlessly clinical penalty box poacher. But the nerves got to Van Nistelrooy who, despite sending Jens Lehmann the wrong way, crashed his effort against the bar.

The full-time whistle was blown seconds later, and the Dutchman found himself crowded by Arsenal players, receiving a hit to the head from a trailing Martin Keown arm, some choice words from Ray Parlour, and a push from Lauren.

To Van Nistelrooy’s credit, he was perhaps the only United player not to react, and quickly went down the tunnel as chaos ensued on the pitch behind him. Even a teenage Cristiano Ronaldo cast aside his questionable highlights to mentally don his fiercest stone island clobber; feebly pushing Gunners midfielder Edu before quickly backing away. Heroic behaviour from the Portuguese.

Round 2: Manchester United 1-0 Arsenal – 3rd April 2004

They’d faced each other in the league a few days previously, but an FA Cup semi-final a week later provided a different kind of incentive.

For Arsenal, the chance of a treble was still on the cards if they could beat their biggest rivals and overcome Chelsea in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final. For United, effectively out of the title race, the FA Cup provided one final opportunity for silverware.

Both sides had chances to win the game, but it was United who came out on top thanks to a first-half Paul Scholes strike. Nonetheless, the most memorable moment from this cup tie was Jose Antonio Reyes experiencing his first Sunday league scythe.

The fact that Paul Scholes only began to make the tackle when within touching distance of Reyes sums up the ferocity of the challenge, that and the winger’s momentarily pretzeled ankle. But, because the Spaniard’s foot hadn’t fallen off, it was only a yellow card challenge - ah 2004, how we miss you.

United would go on to win the cup, beating Millwall 3-0 in the final, but Arsenal were crowned Premier League champions, forever known as 'The Invincibles' thanks to their incredible achievement of going unbeaten for the entire season.

I wonder when that run ended?

Round 3: Manchester United 2-0 Arsenal – 24th October 2004

The Invincibles arrived at Old Trafford not only as league leaders, having won eight of their opening nine matches, but with a 49-game unbeaten run in tow as well. Making it to 50 in the backyard of one of their biggest rivals was an appetising incentive if ever there was one.

But United, despite their stuttering start to the season, weren’t there to simply make up the numbers, and the breakthrough fell the home side’s way when Wayne Rooney decided to practice his forward 2.5 somersaults in the Pike Position and was awarded a penalty.

Only a little bit of artistic licence is present here – it was a MASSIVE dive and Sol Campbell, who had alleged tripped Rooney, was livid. Nonetheless, it gave Ruud Van Nistelrooy the opportunity to exorcise his penalty demons from a year ago. The Dutchman went for placement this time, coolly sending Jens Lehman the wrong way in front of the Stretford End.

Arsenal continued to press for a way back into the game, but were undone on the counter in stoppage time, as Alan Smith set up Rooney for a tap-in against his favourite opponents on his 19th birthday.

Did the Gunners accept defeat graciously, shaking the hands of their opponents before regrouping?

No, thanks in no small part to some of the heavy-handed tactics used against poor old Jose Antonio Reyes once again, this time from Gary Neville. The Spaniard had been in England for nine months and must’ve understood that if you held onto the ball for too long you were essentially fair game, so to nutmeg Neville and not expect to have six studs wrapped around his ankle was just plain naïve.

Despite Arsenal’s 49-game unbeaten run ending, the tunnel spat between the two sides after game, commonly known as the infamous ‘Battle of the Buffet’, was the major talking point. During the chaos, a slice of pizza had lodged itself onto Sir Alex Ferguson’s back and, for over a decade, it was rumoured to have been launched by Arsenal’s then teenage midfielder, Cesc Fabregas. The Spaniard finally came clean of his dough-based crimes in 2017, putting an end to the burning whodunnit rumours.

Round 4: Arsenal 2-4 Manchester United – 1st February 2005

The two teams enjoyed their tunnel brawl so much in October 2004 that they decided to have another one four months later.

Before the game, Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira confronted Gary Neville, warning the right-back against some of the late challenges that had been planted on Arsenal players in the previous game, particularly Jose Antonio Reyes.

Roy Keane heard about the confrontation and immediately sought out the Frenchman in the Highbury tunnel to say his piece. After being dragged away and regaining his cool, Vieira lined up ready to go out as if nothing had happened. Keane, on the other hand, definitely wasn’t finished, as can be seen in the above video…

*Shock*, because Gary Neville was 30-years-old at the time he wasn’t phased in the slightest by Vieira’s actions... and showed this with a finger breaker of a handshake and an absolute eye-bulger of a stare aimed at the Frenchman.

*Shock*, because Patrick Viera was 28-years-old at the time he wasn’t phased in the slightest by Neville’s actions... and showed this by heading home the game’s opening goal.

Ryan Giggs replied for United before veteran forward Dennis Bergkamp put the Gunners ahead once again before half-time - it all seemed to be going Arsenal’s way.

That was until Cristiano Ronaldo found a yard of space on the left to bring the scores level before then putting United ahead with a simple tap-in after goalkeeper Manuel Almunia had gone AWOL. The Portuguese made sure to prolong his shushing celebration for as much time as possible after both goals, just to rile up the Highbury crowd as much as humanly possible.

With United 2-3 up but down to ten men thanks to Mikael Silvestre’s dismissal, they’d have been forgiven for sitting back on their lead. But as a famous man probably never said: any team containing John O’Shea is always capable of flamboyancy.

Just ask Luis Figo, who was famously nutmegged by the defender in 2003 faster than he could say: “quem é John O'Shea?”. This time the Irishman spared Almunia the embarrassment of putting the ball between his legs after beating the Arsenal offside trap, and instead placed a delicate chip over the goalkeeper to put the game to bed.

The best thing about it all was the fact that O'Shea seemed as shocked as everyone else when he realised he'd pulled it off.

Game, set, and match - and the title all but handed to Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea.

Arsenal and United met once more that season in the FA Cup Final, a 0-0 draw which the Gunners won on penalties, but the start of a new era was afoot in the Premier League. The two side’s hegemony was broken by the Roman Abramovich-backed riches of Chelsea, whose points haul of 95 has only since been bettered by Manchester City’s current crop. Despite Ferguson and Wenger continuing their rivalry for another eight years, it was never quite the same again thanks to Chelsea, Manchester City and, for a brief period, Liverpool all staking claims for the Premier League crown.

Patrick Vieira would leave Arsenal for Juventus that summer in 2005, his final kick in a Gunners shirt winning them the FA Cup, and Roy Keane followed suit at United by November that year, winding down his career at Celtic. With those two gone, the two-horse race was over, and with it went they heyday of one of the best rivalries that the Premier League has seen.

But in the words of Dr. Seuss:

Don’t be sad because it’s over – smile because it happened.