Arsenal v Manchester United....here we go again

The first leg of the Champions League semi finals match is this evening at Old Trafford, and it is match up of old friends - ManU and Arsenal. The venom between the two managers has diminished over the past few seasons, maybe because Arsenal has not really been in contention for the League title and Rafa has become the new whipping boy for SAF. But the heat might get turned up again with this new installment.

Manchester United is trying to be the first club, since the old Cup of Champions became the Champions league, to win back to back titles...the last time it was Nottingham Forrest, talk about a blast from the past! Clearly such a repeat would solidify SAF place in the halls of one of the most successful club managers of all time. Of course standing in his way is his old nemisis Wenger. After a poor start to the season, Arsenal is starting to find its stride. Arsenal has also not enjoyed any silverware in what appears to be a life time...since Pat Vieira scored the winning penalty kick against Manchester United in the 2005 season. I am sure there is nothing Wenger would like more than to bring to Arsenal its first Champions League trophy, and doing so at the expense of Manchester United.

So what about the game? These two clubs know each other very well. Arsenal is starting to click, with Cesc pulling the strings the club is getting back to their free flowing attacking football. Nasri, Diaby, Adebayour, and Van Persie are all clicking. The key against Manchester United will be Wolcott. He has been absolutely devastating as of late. His pace has given fits to opposing defenders and opened up space in the middle for Cesc. Of course the combo of Arshavin and Wolcott would be lethal in this match, but the Russian is not eligible having already made appearances for Zenit. The one area of concern for the Gunners, central defense. With Gallas out, the fact that Silvestre is relied upon is cause for concern. In addition with Clichy out, the left side will be an area to monitor with regards to Arsenal blocking Manchester United's attack as well as being able to move up and add to the offense.

Speaking of offensive onslaughts, after watching Manchester United wake up and score 5 goals against the Spurs this weekend I am a little nervous about facing the likes of Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo, Berbatov, et al. Manchester United have the potential to give clubs lots of trouble when they go out with a 3 striker formation. While this places some added strain on the back four, the offensive fire power forces teams to play deeper thereby taking away some pressure on the defense. The back line is suspect at times when it comes to the break, Vidic in particular. He has committed some poor decisions being the last man back at times. This could be exposed due to the speed Arsenal can counter.

I have a feeling this game will be very cautious, both clubs will not want to take too many chances early on. Manchester will play for a goalless draw, wanting to avoid the dreaded away goal. While Arsenal will look to keep the ball with their fluid passing and avoid putting too much pressure on a makeshift back line. Wolcott will again be the wild card, it will be up to him to disrupt the defense with his pace on the wing and force Manchester back deeper, if he can do that it will open up the pitch for Cesc and others.

I see this as a tense match, between old rivals. Arsenal 1 - Manchester United 0 - Wolcott