New Delhi: Manchester United and Arsenal go head-to-head at Old Trafford on Monday night in what should be among the most entertaining match in this season of the English Premier League.
The two teams were seen as the biggest rivals, but in the last five-six years, their rivalry has mellowed down because of the emergence of Chelsea as a strong contender. With Arsenal sitting on the top of the tree and with United just a point behind them, this match has all the ingredients to become a real classic.
With Chelsea looking a pale shadow of the side that regained the Premier League crown last season, you can say that these two teams are the real favourites to win the title, though Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur will surely have some point to make.
The Gunners are looking a team that could go all the way and end their five-year trophy drought. On the other hand, the Red Devils are a side who seem to be getting better week after week following a sluggish start to the season. With Arsenal looking to be Manchester United's biggest rivals to the title this season, everyone can sense that it's about time that the bitter rivalry be reignited.
Since Arsene Wenger moved to Arsenal in 1996, this has been one of the most tense and iconic fixtures in the league. A major reason for the dilution in this fixture has to be that both teams have lost players that passionately hated each other.
Remember Highbury in 2005, when Viera went for Gary Neville in the tunnel, immediately then United skipper Roy Keane stood up for his teammate and Viera was visibly shaken.
There can be no doubt that the cooling of hostilities has come from Arsene Wenger's side not posing a challenge to the title over the last five years, but this year Arsenal are looking a much stronger team.
Off-field drama has already started by Manchester United's Evra, when he called Arsenal as a training centre who wins nothing and adding fuel to fire was in-form Arsenal mid-fielder Samir Nasri when he said that United are not the same team they used to be and "we are not afraid of them."
Both sides have a footballing philosophy and they try and beat each other on the pitch. Monday's match will surely lack the 2005 tunnel drama but let's hope an exciting contest makes up for it.
The title looks set to be heading to either The Old Trafford or to the Emirates Stadium and this game could decide the location. This clash can also be called the 'El Clasico' of English football.
Just to try to keep rivalries fresh in your minds, here are few quotes from both Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger.
Wenger on Fergie
"Everyone thinks they have the prettiest wife at home": May 2002
"What I don't understand is that he does what he wants and you are all at his feet": January 2005
Fergie on Wenger
"They say he's an intelligent man, right? Speaks five languages! I've got a 15-year-old boy from the Ivory Coast who speaks five languages!: 1996
"In the tunnel, Wenger was criticising my players, calling them cheats, so I told him to leave them alone and behave himself. He ran at me with his hands raised, saying 'What do you want to do about it?' To not apologise for the behaviour of the players to another manager is unthinkable. It's a disgrace but I don't expect Wenger to ever apologise... he's that type of a person": January 2005
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