Arsenal vs. Manchester United

Danny Wellbeck gave Manchester United all three points at the Emirates this weekend to help Manchester United keep pace with rivals Manchester City at the top of the Barclays Premier League table. Antonio Valencia struck first with a header from a Ryan Giggs cross that put United ahead right before the halftime whistle in half that the Red Devils dominated from start to finish. Arsenal came out strong in the second half with chance after chance against a weakened United defense and finally got the break through from Robin Van Persie via a fantastic pass from Alex Oxlade Chamberlain who was impressive on his first start at the highest level for the Gunners. Things got interesting late on when Arsene Wenger controversially decided to remove Oxlade Chamberlain for the much maligned Andrei Arshavin. Alex Ferguson sent Antonio Valencia to right back to exploit this change and it paid dividends immediately after Valencia skinned Arshavin and squared it to Danny Wellbeck to give United all three points late on.

There were positives all over the pitch for United but it was Danny Wellbeck who stole the spotlight. Wellbeck has earned his starting spot and adds another element to the Manchester United attack especially compared to Javier Hernandez who offers little outside of his poaching instinct. His creative runs and quality in wide areas give defenders trouble constantly and had it not been for some last ditch defending he could have put the game to bed much earlier. There were doubts as to whether he was United quality after his Sunderland loan last season but he has put those doubts to rest with his performances this campaign and looks to have made the starting spot his own.

Chris Smalling, Antonio Valencia, and Michael Carrick, and Rafael Da Silva all impressed as well. Smalling looked imperious in his more natural position and is looking more and more like the perfect replacement for an aging Rio Ferdinand. Valencia continues to be as one dimensional as ever, but with devastating effect. Carrick kept it simple as usual but the midfield metronome has been instrumental in recent weeks with all the uncertainty over United's midfield. The Cleverley-Carrick midfield duo on paper is a mouth watering prospect and according to Toms recent tweets he isn't that far off a return to the first team. Rafael should be starting at this point and his performance as a substitute showed that much. The fact that right back is his natural position and he can attack like only a Brazilian full back can is reason enough to give him a run in the first team over the likes of Phil Jones and Chris Smalling who never look entirely convincing at right back.

The downward trend continues for Arsenal, unfortunately, as a top four finish looks increasingly unlikely as they move further and further away from the rest of the pack at the top. Wenger appears to have lost the plot and the the future of instrumental captain Robin Van Persie remains up in the air. Their lack of depth is being exposed at the toughest point of the season and it only gets tougher as resurgent Italian giants A.C Milan wait in the round of 16, another embarrassing result is on the cards unless Arsene brings in proper reinforcements.