Ji Sung Park must be feeling on cloud 9 right now as he helped The Red Devils secure a win over rivals, the Gunners.

United scored with four minutes to go before halftime. The South Korean midfielder, Park headed in a Nani cross which caught a deflection off Arsenal defender Gael Clichy.
They missed a chance to go 2-0 up when Wayne Rooney fired a penalty over the bar.
The hosts remained unbeaten in the league this season with the best home record. Arsenal’s performance lacked any luster, they are now two points behind United in the league table.
The Gunners struggled to keep possession when they got near the box and the usually devastating combination of Marouane Chamakh and Samir Nasri looked disjointed.
United were keen to test young Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, making his first Premier League appearance. Szczesny made some excellent saves, first from Anderson and an attempted lob by Rooney.

Arsenal fans started chanting; “We want Cesc Fabregas” at the start of the second half and with less than half an hour to go manager Arsene Wenger consented. The skipper was out with a hamstring injury came on with Robin van Persie. But it was United who created the better chances.

However, Arsene Wenger did not react to the insults. This war of words comes right before the clubs match up on Monday at Old Trafford.

Evra called Arsenal a ‘training centre’ and a club in ‘crisis’ in an interview with television channel Canal+. Wenger had an opportunity to counter the spew of words but decided not to give it too much attention, during a press conference on Friday.

Arsene Wenger - Arsenal Manager

The Gunners manager said:

“He gave you some good stuff to make it all hot before the game.”

“We are guided by the way we want to play football and not by the statements of anybody who plays against us.”

“Personally, I believe if you are a big player you always respect your opponent and that is what we try to do.”

When asked if Evra was being disrespectful, Wenger was again reserved:

“I leave that judgment to you. We do not want to go into any unneeded talking before a game like that. We want to focus on the way we want to play and ignore any provocation before a game. We are motivated by the desire to win the game and by the quality of the football we want to play.”

Watch the goal here.

Arsenal didn’t look like themselves, they were passing the ball too well in the first half. However, during break Arsene Wenger surely let his mind out. The Gunners looked better and created more chances in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

First it was Johnson’s own goal that  allowed Arsenal a foot into the door and then Arshavin took a beautiful volley to wrap the game up for the visitors.

After another loss for the Reds, Benitez and the fans must have surely lost confidence about the team’s chances of giving a fight for a  position in the top four.

Bottom placed Portsmouth played well to earn a victory over Burnley. It was the first match for Avram Grant as Portsmouth manager, and it was a delightful welcome for him.

Brunley squandered quite a few opportunities to go ahead and will surely regret the missed chances.

Portsmouth didn’t give up and kept pushing forward. Portsmouth had a great chance to go one-up from a penalty but Dindane managed to miss it. However, later in the game he scored adding to the lead given to the home team through Hermann Hreidarsson’s brilliant left-footer.

Portsmouth are now temporarily off the bottom place.

Blackburn 0-0 Liverpool

Liverpool earn another frustrating draw. The first half had nothing interesting happening. Both teams evenly matched up until the break.

At the start of the second half Blackburn had some great opportunities, through Chelesa’s loan signing- Di Santo. The youngster played well.

Liverpool also had decent opportunites, the most tlling one being a terrific run by Glenn Johnson to put N’gog on goal, but N’gog somehow skewed the shot on the top-bar. The rebound was hit off target.

Liverpool surely looked like they were missing Torres, The Reds were just unable to put the ball in the back of the net.

Wonder why Benitez wasn’t looking to bring Aquiliani on as a substitute, Nabil El Zhar was brought in as a late substitute.

Blackburn were also suffering from some kind of jitters in front of goal, like their counterparts. They also had numerous opportunities to seal the deal, but were unsuccessful.

Although Blackburn will be happy to gain a point after a rigorous mid-week game.

West Ham 0-4 Manchester United

It was a thumping win for the defending champions. Scholes opened the score just before half-time.

Wonder kid- Darron Gibbson scored another glorious strike just over the hour mark and added to the lead.

The Hammers had decent chances as well but couldn’t convert. Diamanti had an awesome shot on goal, but Kuzczak pulled an even better save.

Two quick goals were scored by Valencia and Rooney which took the match away from the home team.

Arsenal 2-0 Stoke City

Prior to the match Arshavin had stated that Arsenal were missing Van Persie upfront and also some tall statured players(Arshavin himself being around 5′ 8″).

Arshavin looked lively on the field and managed to win a penalty after forcing an error from Delap. Skipper Fabregas came up to take the spot-kick but Sorensen saved it.

Arshavin scored another brilliant goal from a Fabregas cross.

Ramsey scored the second to give Arsenal a 2-0 victory over Stoke City.

Wigan 2-3 Birmingham

Wigan took the lead in the first half through N’Zogbia’s 33rd minute strike.

Sebastian Larsson equalized for the visitors in the 61st minute and five minutes later Christian Benitez gave Birmingham the lead. Later Larsson extended the lead by scoring his second goal in the game.

Jordi Gomez pulled one back late in the match, but it was just too late for the homeside.

Until today’s loss, Wigan were undefeated at home after leading 1-0.

Aston Villa 3-0 Hull

Villa scored early in the game through Richard Dunne from a Milner assist. 15 minutes later Milner celebrated his own strike and also Villa’s 2-0 lead.

Aston Villa kept attacking Hull City, they won a penalty which was taken by Carew.

Wolves 2-1 Bolton

The fastest goal of the day was scored by Wolverhampton’s Jody Carddock in the 3rd minute.

Nenad Milijas added to the lead. Bolton struck a late goal through Johan Elmander.

Both sides looked to attack but the game ended 2-1 to Wolves.

Manchester City 2-1 Chelsea

The final match of the day was the most exhilirating encounter. Both sides were looking to attack from kick-off.

Chelsea took the lead when Anelka’s shot could have been saved by Given, but unfortunately the ball bounced into the net off Adebayor back. Adebayor took revenge later in the half, scoring from a corner.

The second half got into a high-tempo mode. Both sides were driving players forward and referee came into action many-a-times producing yellow cards and giving free-kicks. Chelsea and Man City had good chances, Chelsea didn’t manage to capitilize. City were awarded a free-kick just outside the box, which was wonderfully converted by Tevez to give City the lead.

Drogba won a penalty for Chelsea after drawing a foul from Onuoha, late in the game. Given came to City’s rescue by saving Lampard’s penalty and thus ensuring a win for Man City.

Shay Given saves Lampard's penalty

City’s Micah Richards and Wayne Bridge both seemed to be injured, Bridge was carried off on a stretcher after a sliding tackle from Belletti. Chelsea’s Terry also limped off late in the second half.

Arsenal could have finished with a higher goal tally, they played some memorizing football led by Captain Fabregas. The Gunners’ skipper was  involved in all goals, before being substituted and had another marvelous game.

Arsenal were put in front by Arshavin after being behind Blackburn twice during the half-time, the score reading Arsenal 3 – 2 Blackburn.

These were the only goals to be scored by Blackburn for the day, after the break it was an Arsenal onslaught! Although Blackburn had decent chances to bring the deficit down.

Barcelona’s Thierry Henry watched from the stands.

David Dunn was brought down in the penalty area by Vermalen but no penalty was awarded to Blackburn.

Cesc Fabregas added another goal(57′), after leaving keeper Robinson wrong footed. It was the third time in a row Arsenal have scored 4 against Blackburn.

Benny McCarthy came on for David Dunn but suffered a niggle and was off after around 15 minutes on the pitch. In came Hoilett and almost scored for Blackburn if it weren’t for the post.

The Gunners played good attacking football, as the scoreline suggests and were a joy to watch.

Theo Walcott looked in touch, coming back after an injury.

Bendtner added the sixth goal from a Ramsey pass.

Tugay could only watch his former team fall further behind, from the stands.

In the post-match interview when asked about kissing the Arsenal emblem after scoring Cesc Fabregas said:

“There has been some speculation, I’m committed 100% to the club, in my 7th season. I was trying to show I really love this club.”

Chelsea 2 – 0 Liverpool

Anelka, Drogba, Ballack all have opportunities on goal, but were unable to convert during the first half. The deadlock couldn’t be broken by either side at half time.

Nicholas Anelka tapped-in the ball at the hour mark, after Liverpool gave the ball away and the Blues broke away with Drogba.

Liverpool had chances especially in the dying minutes of the game, with both Benayoun and Gerrard missing good opportunities. Chelsea held on and managed to score another through Malouda, once again from a Drogba assist.

The Reds have lost their second match in a row, earlier losing to Fiorentina in the Champions League.

The victory has put Chelsea ahead of Manchester United by 2 points, on top of the table.

Both teams had to cope with injuries to key players; Robinho and Carlos Tevez were both ruled out due to ankle and knee injuries, respectively. For Arsenal, Andrei Arshavin had to sit out because of a groin injury he suffered during Russia’s World Cup 2010 qualifier against Wales. Arshavin was sad to miss out this week’s Premier League match but was proud to play for his country.

Micah Richards’  header hit the post and then went in by hitting keeper Manuel Almunia’s head, counting as an own goal. Most of the match was dominated by Arsenal but they failed to make any headway. Dutchman Robin Van Persie scored the equalizer for Arsenal in the 62nd minute. A few minutes later Craig Bellamy once again gave City the lead. Adebayor scored the third goal and sprinted the whole length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the Arsenal fans. A chair was shown in his direction as was a yellow card. Shaun Wright-Phillips added to the tally scoring the fourth goal, however, Arsenal did not give up and managed to score a second through Tomas Rosicky(87′). They came close to pulling another goal back with a sweet strike from Van Persie which sadly came back off the goal post.

Other results for the day

Blackburn Rovers    3-1    Wolverhampton Wanderers
Liverpool    4-0    Burnley
Manchester City    4-2    Arsenal
Portsmouth    2-3    Bolton Wanderers
Stoke City    1-2    Chelsea
Sunderland    4-1    Hull City
Wigan Athletic    1-0    West Ham United
Tottenham Hotspur    1-3    Manchester United