Old Trafford Manchester
If Arsenal were in poor shape before this fixture, the devastation at Old Trafford has left them in a chaotic state. Injuries cannot account for this mauling that included the dismissal of Carl Jenkinson, with a second yellow card, when the score was 6-2. Manchester United were pitiless, with Ashley Young lashing their eighth in stoppage time Arsenal have failed to keep pace with United for some years, but this match showed that Sir Alex Ferguson's team is almost out of view. Considering the weakness of the line-up Arsène Wenger had to select, with the centre-half Thomas Vermaelen ruled out by a thigh injury and the teenager Francis Coquelin making his debut in midfield, it was natural that the visitors should suffer. Even so, nobody envisaged such humiliation.