United hit back to sink Gunners

Andrey Arshavin capped a brilliant first half by putting Arsenal ahead and if Ben Foster had not denied Robin van Persie with a brilliant feet-first save, Arsenal would probably have won.

Instead, Wayne Rooney won a debatable penalty when he went down under Manuel Almunia's challenge, and scored it himself before Abou Diaby turned Ryan Giggs' free-kick into his own net to give the hosts their victory.

Van Persie thought he had equalised deep into stoppage time but his effort was ruled out for an offside against William Gallas, and Arsene Wenger's protest against the disallowed goal led to him being sent from the dug-out.

Arshavin turned and let fly with a rasper of a drive in the first half to put the Gunners ahead.

Nemanja Vidic came close to levelling straight away for the hosts but Arsenal continued on top.

At that point, there seemed to be only one winner. How wrong those doubters were as Ferguson's team surged back, Giggs the architect behind the comeback just as Arshavin had sparked Arsenal earlier.

The difference was referee Mike Dean said yes when United claimed their penalty as Rooney went crashing to the ground after Giggs had supplied the pass that sent him through one-on-on with Almunia. Rooney went straight for the ball, put it on the spot and promptly sent Almunia the wrong way.

When Diaby was hacked at by Rooney and Wes Brown, both men were booked and Van Persie was offered the chance to curl a free-kick at Foster's goal which thudded against the crossbar. A minute later, from a very similar position, United got their second when Diaby inexplicably headed into his own net.