Live text commentary: Arsenal v Man Utd

Iain Hepburn

April 03, 2004

Live updates from today's FA Cup semi-final will appear here. Most recent are at the top.

93.09 Final whistle. Manchester United are in the FA Cup final for the 16th time, and earn the right to give either Millwall or Sunderland a bye into Europe. Cardiff beckons, as does some silverware...
90.57 Reyes scuffs a chance to put Arsenal level after great work by Ljundberg in the United box. Last desperate push bu the Gunners begins. Henry puts a shot over the bar (and how) after some nice passing play for the build-up.
89.11 Bellion finds himself on the end of a fantastic right side cross from Giggs, right in front of Lehmann. Nobody gets to it, though, and United's chance to kill the game completely goes begging.
88.26 The Arsenal fans have lost their voice, judging by the crowd noise. Arsenal are letting frustration get the better of them. United, rightly, are in no hurry to take any of the free kicks they keep getting.
87.04 Arsenal look listless, despite having so many strikers on. They keep pushing folk forward and doing nothing with it. Fletcher wins a corner after being challenged on the byline.
86.00 Awful corner by Henry. Dreadful clearance by United. Keane tries to capitalise and gets flattened by Campbell.
83.40 Ronaldo gets a standing ovation from the United fans at Villa Park as he is substituted for David Bellion. Lawro reckons it's been his best performance since arriving at United. For once, he might be right.
82.24 Arsenal get a corner. It's getting desperate out there, since the Highbury men haven't really made a chance all half. Dreadful corner, great clearing header from that man Brown again.
80.12 Wes Brown intercepts a nice floated in cross from Bergkamp. On form like this, can he still make the squad for Euro 2004? If he can stay fit, Sven'd be mad not to select him - especially given how many French players he's kept quiet today.
78.32 Ronaldo's a pacy young chap, isn't he?
77.39 Toure gets booked for a clumsy challenge, while Ljundberg gets treatment. O'Shea wins a corner. O'Shea? Hang on, someone clear up his noselbeed.
74.14 Barber - who looks like an older version of the bloke that presents Top Gear with Clarkson - is having a second half that could chartiably be described as "rubbish". Phil Neville is on now for Solskjaer, with Ronaldo moving up front. Henry's nice backheel is handballed by Silvestre, but he gets away with it. And now Kanu's on, bringing the Arsenal forward count to five.
72.19 Scholes gets booked for a challenge on Reyes that could charitably be described as "clumsy". On second thoughts, looking at the replay, it could charitably be described as "brutal". Phil Neville's getting ready to come on for United. Walter, sadly, is wearing his coat so I still can't determine if he's wearing his sleeveless cardie. Chances are, he is.
71.22 Offside on Henry as Bergkamp launches a great ball to him. Close but no cigar. Meanwhile Kanu's coming on. Just how many strikers do they want to play?
69.56 Interesting decision by Barber to give a freekick against Speedy Gonzales Ronaldo. Reds fans less than impressed. Ronaldo moreso. Incredibly, the pace in this match is STILL picking up. Even Fifa 2004 isn't this end to end.
68.08 All that good work, neat wee flicks and breakaways by Arsenal, but eventually Henry just sclaffs the shot wide with as much conviction as a Pat Nevin penalty. Still, if he will spend all night at smokey jazz clubs drumming with Animal from the Muppets...
65.06 Remember what I said about it not kicking off in the stands? Oops. Someone's chucked a coin at Gary Lewin, the Arsenal physio, and struck him on the head. Meanwhile, Vieira and now seems to be squaring off with Graham Barber. Maybe he, Keano and the ref can go to it in a three way bout.
64.41 Reyes makes a break, after a nice wee flick to take over the defence.
63.14 Another break in play from the ref. The fractuous atmosphere at Villa Park isn't thankfully translating to the stands, but Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira look like they want to add an extra bout to the Hatton undercard.
60.24 Patrick Vieira throws a paddy after his less-than-outstanding dive isn't rewarded with a free kick by the referee. Reyes is getting told off about wearing his necklace on the pitch.
58.50 Bergkamp puts his free kick long. Can someone get a message to Roy Keane and let him know he's got paint in his hair? Really. One of the pitch markings at Villa Park has rubbed off on his head and now he looks like Pepe Le Peu.
56.37 Thierry Henry and Jose Reyes are coming on, for Aliadiere and Pires. Wenger's pulling out all the stops, then.
53.30 Fletcher goes down under a French sandwich of Pires and Aliadiere. The mood's turning ugly in Birmingham. What odds a repeat of Crouching Tiger Hidden Keown before the end of the match?
51.34 Jens Lehmann finds himself in the ref's book after a shoulderblock on Ronaldo. It's all breaking down at Villa Park.
50.35 Bergkamp goes down. He say penalty. The man from Del Monte, he say no. The replay, says Lawro, says it shows its a dive.
49.30 Fergie's grandson Jake is in the crowd, wearing the biggest hat a small child has ever worn. Motty and Lawro wonder jokingly who the youngster, in his Reds top and hat, supports. Well, if he's been influenced by his granddad at all, it'll be Glasgow Rangers.
Second half, no changes on either side. And Arsenal have started brighter. As have their fans.
No changes at half time for either side, so let's get this party started, as Pink once said. Sort of.
Of course, with the match being on the BBC, there's no adverts, although the cutaways to Aintree for the horses today. Earlier, by the way, Lawro said he couldn't pick a winner in either today's match or the National. So why is he a pundit? Schmeichel's an oustanding analyst, very insightful, well restrained, enthusiastic. Alan "Captain Scarlet" Hansen's as great as always. Wrighty though, god love him, is a walking advert for scotch tape over the mouth. Please, somebody, ask him to calm down.
Oh, and someone get the crisp salesman a new tie. That one he's wearing is honking.
45.20. Great free kick, Vieira's header hits the post as Roy Carroll looks stranded. That'll be half time, so we'll be right back after these words from our sponsors, and I've got a cup of tea.
42.43 Notorious hardman Ronaldo gets penalised for bringing down Vieira. Arsenal get a corner from the resultant free kick, but a United player clears it with the sort of grunting yell normally only heard in women's tennis matches. Can Fergie please tell whoever that was to keep the noise down?
40.23 Pires on the break, but Silvestre breaks up Aliadiere's run. Anyone know how much they'd be worth in Scrabble?
39.35 United breakaway from Carroll's long kick sees Ronaldo zip away down that right. Peter Kay's wandered up to join the United players at the corner. Someone want to tell Brown his label's sticking out?
38.20 Roy Keane defensive header slightly defuses a Pires free kick. Roy looks so much better with a proper haircut, don't you think. Carroll makes a great block amid the stramash from the resultant corner. And catches the follow-up corner too. Anyone think he might be trying to prove a point?
35.37 Nice crowd cutaway of some happy Reds fans cheering on the BBC. Meanwhile, over at Isleworth the Sky Sports execs are weeping quietly as they prepare for tomorrow's thrilling Millwall v Sunderland clash.
33.57 And twice in the space of a few seconds, Bergkamp's breakaways into the United box are pulled up by the ref. Meanwhile the replay of Scholes' goal has the added benefit of showing a ridiculously stupid expression on Lehmann's face as he watches the ball hit the net.
32.00 GOAL! Arsenal 0 - Manchester United 1. Ryan Giggs's cross, Scholes with the finish, and it's first blood to United. Well, that's woken the crowd out of their brief torpor.
30.03. Keane gets booked (yes, I was shocked too) for a foul on Robert Pires.
25.00 I know people say O'Shea looks like Peter Kay, but is it just me or does Ole Solskjaer look like Frodo Baggins with a peroxide rinse?
24.07 Sol Campbell turns provider. Shame Pires has forgotten how to head the the ball again.
18.10 Giggs has a free kick on the edge of the Arsenal box, after Ronaldo gets poll-axed. Except that Scholes decided to take it at the same time. Was that rehearsed, or just a moment of daft-boyness? Answers to the address above, please.
15.26 Sol Campbell manages to get in tront of Ole after Ronaldo's little lambada into the penalty box. And he gets the corner away too. The amount of traffic to and fro between the boxes, they're going to have to returf the pitch at half time.
15.00 Ljundberg puts the ball over the bar and somewhere towards Coventry. Nice touch, sir. Very graceful.
13.50 United are taking root in Arsenal's penalty box. Ronaldo and Solskjaer look a nice little combination on that right hand side. Motty reckons the gap in play is the first time they've drawn breath. Go on, hold it a bit longer, will you, John?
13.08 Brown looks on great form today. Who needs Rio anyway?
09.12 Lovely cross field ball to Solskjaer, who's clearly been watching Ronaldo do those stepovers. It's end to end stuff. Obviously everyone's been stocking up on the wheetabix this morning.
06.45 It's high-octane stuff at Villa Park. Ronaldo managed to pull off the stepover. Clichy had a counter.
03.10 Edu's just taken the paint off United's crossbar. But Roy Carroll's done himself no end of good with a great save. If you saw Marshall's great tip-away in the Rangers v Celtic match last weekend, it was up with that.
02.52. Bergkamp's just had two chances, and Wes Brown's managed to show Matthew Upson how to head low down.
Kick-off. United are in their White shirts with the pinstripe hoops, if that's not a contradiction in itself. A minute in and they've already had two throw-ins. Can't tell yet if Walter's wearing his sleeveless cardigan.
Oh joy of joys. It's Lawro and Motty on commentary duties. The Stan and Ollie of the BBC. It looks a distinctly grey day in Birmingham. But then, when is it not?
Well, the big team news from Villa Park is that Ruud Van Nistelrooy has failed to win his fitness battle. Ole Solskjaer plays up front on his own, while Ronaldo forms part of a five man midfield with Ryan Giggs, Scholes, Keane and Fletcher.

Arsenal have problems of their own. Henry gets dropped to the bench to give him a breather, with Jeremie Aliadiere and Dennis Bergkamp starting up front.

Teams:
Arsenal: Lehmann; Lauren, Campbell, Toure, Clichy; Lundberg, Vieira, Edu, Pires ; Aliadiere, Bergkamp

Reds: Carroll; G Neville, Brown, Silvestre, O'Shea; Fletcher, Keane, Scholes, Ronaldo, Giggs; Solskjaer.