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| May 21, 2005 | Saturday | Rabi-us-Sani 12, 1426 |
Old rivals prepare to settle score in FA Cup final
LONDON, May 20: Manchester United and Arsenal players will be looking to settle a few scores in what could be a particularly ill-tempered FA Cup final on Saturday. United captain Roy Keane has already warned it could be an “explosive” meeting in Cardiff when his holders take on an Arsenal side hungry for revenge.
United have beaten Arsenal 2-0 at home and 4-2 away in the Premier League this season, while the two clubs have traded blows for more than two years in the FA Cup.
Arsenal’s last competitive victory over United in February 2003 was a big step towards winning the Cup for the second year in a row.
Last season, United lifted the Cup after denying Arsenal a potential hat trick by knocking them out in the semifinals.
More important than the statistics, though, will be the personal battles at the Millennium Stadium and notably Keane’s tussle in midfield with Arsenal skipper Patrick Vieira.
The pair have traded crunching tackles and spats for many years and recently broadened the front into barbed newspaper comments about each other’s World Cup loyalties.
There was an acrimonious exchange in the players’ tunnel before February’s 4-2 win and Vieira has said he is “ready for anything” from the Irishman in Cardiff.
Significantly, the pair were the most booked players of their respective clubs in the league season just ended, with Keane collecting 11 yellow cards and Vieira nine.
Vieira and probably Gilberto or Edu will also have Paul Scholes snapping at their heels in the middle of the park, while further duels are expected down the flanks.
Left-back Ashley Cole’s best game in an England shirt was the muzzling job he did on United’s Cristiano Ronaldo at Euro 2004, while the Portuguese responded by scoring twice at Highbury in February.
United right-back Gary Neville, if fit, will face quick-footed Jose Antonio Reyes, having clattered into the Spanish forward at Old Trafford last October.
United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who was banned for three games for a foul on Cole in that game, will want to make an impact after a season plagued by injury and loss of form.
Van Nistelrooy’s strike partner Wayne Rooney faces another tangle with Sol Campbell, having won a hotly-disputed penalty off the Arsenal defender seven months ago.
Mikael Silvestre is likely to be patrolling United’s left flank against incursions from Fredrik Ljungberg, three months after being red-carded for head-butting the Swede at Highbury.—Reuters
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