KEY POINTS:
Manchester United, beaten at the death when the FA Cup final returned to Wembley last May, appear to have every chance of returning there in three months' time after taking advantage of a depleted Arsenal line-up to achieve an emphatic victory over their old rivals today.
Last weekend's wretched performance at home to Manchester City, which allowed Arsenal the opportunity to sneak five points ahead in the Premier League, was forgotten by the home majority in the crowd, though not the visiting contingent who chanted: "We'll be back to win the League."
The problem for both managers beforehand was how strong a side they dared field with Champions' League ties coming up in midweek.
While clearly only third priority out of four in the English season, the Cup continues to mean a lot to both clubs, as they have demonstrated by reaching seven finals between them in this decade alone and winning the trophy 21 times in all.
Disappointingly, both opted to play safe.
For Arsenal, selection was admittedly complicated by an untimely crop of injuries. After various fitness tests, the list of first-choice absentees comprised Manuel Almunia, Bacary Sagna, Tomas Rosicky and Robin van Persie, while GaIl Clichy, Mathieu Flamini and Emmanuel Adebayor were left on the bench.
Wenger, with 13 wins to Sir Alex Ferguson's 11 in their previous encounters, went for Eduardo da Silva flitting around Nicklas Bendtner in attack while Emmanuel Eboue pushed up on the right flank.
For all the deft touches and clever movement, plus Bendtner's bustle, they lacked the all-round threat that Adebayor, scorer of the winning goal at Old Trafford last season, would have provided.
United left out Cristiano Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs altogether, with Carlos Tevez and Paul Scholes held in reserve.
So the capacity crowd were robbed of a sharpshooting confrontation between rival gunslingers Adebayor and Ronaldo.
Wayne Rooney, who was back after a suspension that cost United dear last week, had Park Ji-sung and Nani on either side of him while Anderson attacked boldly from midfield as Michael Carrick held the line.
Where Arsenal were at full strength was in the centre of defence so it was all the more surprising that they should concede two headed goals in the opening 20 minutes, followed by a third down the middle before half-time.
Nani, Ronaldo's young compatriot, was instrumental in all three. In the 16th minute he took a corner from the left that was nudged out only as far as Anderson, who headed back into the six-yard box for Rooney to nod in with Justin Hoyte caught on the wrong side of him.
Only two minutes later Darren Fletcher, making the most of a rare appearance, began a move that set Nani away down the left and arrived to meet the resulting cross almost simultaneously with William Gallas. He will want to claim the goal.
Arsenal had managed little more than a volley by Alexander Hleb before conceding a third goal. This time Nani drifted into the centre and his perfect first touch as Carrick's pass dropped over Gallas's head took him past Armand Traore to score.
Rooney might have emulated him but shot wide after taking down Fletcher's cross.
The normal feistiness of these meetings had been absent, mainly because of Arsenal's docility but it soon made an appearance after half-time. Eduardo and Rio Ferdinand were both booked for bad challenges and in between times came Eboue's dismissal for a wild lunge that caught Patrice Evra in the midriff.
There could be only one result after that and Jens Lehmann, dismayed by the defending in front of him, three times had to deny Rooney, who joined Gilberto in the notebook of a fussy referee.
Wenger made a triple substitution, bringing on Adebayor and Flamini at last, but no sooner had he done so than another Nani cross was headed in by Fletcher at the far post, brooking no argument this time.
- INDEPENDENT
