Manchester United 2-1 Arsenal (Van Persie 3′ , Evra 67′ ManU) – (Cazorla 90’+5 Ars)
Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson react:
on the defeat…
I’m disappointed of course, because we had a lot of the ball but we were not very efficient in our final third or in their final third. You feel it was a bit [of] an illusionary domination. We had a lot of the ball but they created more chances and deserved to win the game. Part of that is down to the fact that we gave an early goal away. In a game like that, that’s a massive advantage [for Manchester United]. Then they defended well, were sharper than us in the duels and the consequence is you lose the game.
on van Persie scoring…
Honestly, that doesn’t bother me at all. That doesn’t matter. What you want is to win the game. You don’t care about who scores in their team. What is most important is that you don’t make a mistake at the back and you don’t give chances away.
on what was said if he spoke to van Persie at half time…
Nothing special.
Ferguson want more goals:
“It looked as if it was going to be self destruction,” the manager told MUTV and Sky Sports. “It only takes a second to lose a goal.
“They had some possession without really threatening us, but thank god we got the second one because the fact they scored right on full-time would have been an embarrassment [if we’d only have been 1-0 up].
“It was a strange game and the chances we missed… well, we should have put the game to bed a long, long time ago. If you see the scoreline you’d think it was a close game, but it wasn’t.
“There was a lack of urgency in our game throughout. We were far too casual. It was an unusual Manchester United/Arsenal game. There were a lot of bookings but it never really got anywhere near the Manchester United/Arsenal games of the past.
“I was just really disappointed in our ability to hammer home the advantage,” he added.
“I spoke about goal difference to the players at the start of the season. We lost [the title] on goal difference last season and I don’t want to see
