Arsenal gift wrap United points as champions get lucky....

Arsene Wenger will wake up this morning knowing that his team should have won at Old Trafford yesterday, the fact that they didn't was down to two poor errors of judgement by his goalkeeper and the burgeoning young French midfield star that is Diaby.

Arsenal hadn't lost a game this season prior to Saturday's 2-1 reverse, the Gunners have been in scintillating form, in contrast Ferguson's team have been struggling following the loss of Ronaldo and Tevez and in the wake of those big name departures the United manager stated that his team would have to play 'differently'.

The clash with Arsenal was the first big test of the season for both managers. As things turned out, despite the defeat and being sent-off, Wenger should be the more satisfied of the two managers, because without any shadow of doubt the Gunners' were by far the better of the two teams.

Going in this clash of the titans, Arsenal were without arguably their best player in Fabregas who is out injured. For his part, Ferguson was denied the services of his first-choice 'keeper and Rio Ferdinand. The team that Ferguson sent out to battle consisted of just one striker, Wayne Rooney. Ferguson is seemingly reverting back to his bad old tinkerman days when playing one striker, on this occasion against a team that is probably the best at retaining the ball, which raises many questions.

Had the United manager forgotten the champions were playing at home?

Was this his definition of playing differently?

Does Ferguson have any faith in Berbatov and Owen to play in the big games?

Will the United manager continue to play 4-5-1 at home in the toughest looking fixtures?

Does Ferguson have any faith in his midfield?

Are United's current midfield options so lacking that the manger feels he has to flood it every time we face title contenders?

Notwithstanding unanswered questions, it was a tactic that was doomed to failure given that Rooney is 5'8" and therefore totally unsuitable to playing the lone striker role. It was a tactic that was bound to gift possession back to the visitors and predictably it did, eventually. However, despite the handicap of playing with just one striker, United did manage to somehow have the greater share of possession in the opening period; this was largely down to sheer effort rather than class and use of the ball.

Ryan Giggs had been selected in preference to Anderson, but the Welshman's first -half performance was woeful, more or less every time he came into contact with the ball he either gifted it back to Arsenal or else he simply played it to no one in particular.

Nani wasn't much better on the left; it was noticeable that the Portuguese winger was given an earful on more than one occasion after taking the wrong option and losing the ball. New signing Valencia simply wasn't in the game and apart from one good cross to the back stick; Clichy kept the Ecuadorian in check.

United huffed, puffed and harried Arsenal, but much of the champions attacking play was disjointed. Despite edging the first half possession stats, it was United who went behind five minutes before the break when Arshavin escaped the attention of United's five-man midfield who invited the Russian to shoot and there's no one better from thirty yards. The resulting thunderbolt flew beyond the flailing arms of Ben Foster who perhaps should have done better, though nothing should be taken away from Arshavin's fine effort.

The opening goal rocked United and from that point on it looked like there'd only be one winner and it wasn't going to be the champions. The first-half came to a close and United hadn't managed to register a direct effort on Almunia's goal.

Those United fans expecting positive half-time changes would have been disappointed as Ferguson elected to retain his starting eleven for the second period; quite how Giggs hadn't been withdrawn was to say the least baffling.

The fact that Ferguson chose to retain the same system with the same players was damning, because the balance of this game had clearly swung the visitors’ way and something needed to be done by the United manager, but he did nothing.

Arsenal could easily have extended their lead early in the second-half, but they were denied by Ben Foster who redeemed his first-half error when saving Van Persie's effort who must have thought he'd scored from just six yards out.

Then against the odds and following a rare moment of inspiration from Ryan Giggs, the Welshman slotted an incisive pass through the heart of the Arsenal centre-backs, and United were rescued by Almunia who brought down Rooney inside the penalty area. Rooney was actually running away from the goal, even if he'd managed to control the ball there was an awful lot still to do, but thankfully the champions were given a get-out-of-jail-card with the award of a penalty which Rooney converted in style.

Despite drawing level, it was Arsenal who were still the dominant side. All too often United reverted to simply lumping the ball in the air from back to front in a vain attempt to find Wayne Rooney, inevitably the ball ended up back in the possession of the visitors'. The net result of Ferguson's hit and hope tactics was sadly predictable; at times it was like watching a lower division team play.

United had another narrow escape when only the woodwork denied Van Persie whose curling left foot drive looked to have beaten Foster all ends up, that effort came about following the award of a free-kick which been given after Diaby had been fouled by Evra.

Ferguson's tactics did not deserve anything from this game, but on 64 minutes and for the second time on what turned out to be United's day, the champions somehow escaped from jail again when a Giggs free-kick was inexplicably headed into his own net by Diaby.

Ferguson eventually made the belated decision to actually try to redress the balance of play; he replaced the ineffective Valencia with the equally ineffective Park, who contributed little of note.

Then on 85 minutes Ferguson finally brought on Berbatov in exchange for Giggs. United fans might well reflect that it actually took the champions until the 92 second minute before they created a genuine goal scoring opportunity, this came about when Arsenal were pressing for an equaliser and Nani played a superb ball to the feet of Berbatov, who surely would have scored but ironically on what turned out to be a day of extreme good fortune the ball bobbled unkindly and the Bulgarian totally miss hit his shot.

Arsenal had been by far the better side throughout the second period and they thought they'd equalised deep into added time through Van Persie, but his effort was ruled out for offside, which resulted in Arsene Wenger being sent to the stands.

In turned out to be a very strange day. Wenger had received his marching orders, which was quite amusing. United had won, but hadn’t deserved to, but nonetheless the performance of Ferguson and his team left many unanswered questions because on the evidence of this performance the champions look more or less totally devoid of ideas both on and off the pitch. It's doubtful United will be so lucky against Spurs and City.