Battle of the Buffet

Ahead of Saturday’s meeting between the sides, Jon Holmes takes an in-depth look back at ‘Pizzagate’ – the famous Manchester United and Arsenal clash from 2004.

“Football is not a war,” insisted Arsene Wenger to the gathered press corps, as he prepared to take his troops north to Old Trafford for the 10th game of the 2004/05 Premier League campaign.

“Since I have been in the game, it’s always about war and fights – and football is not about that.”

After a record 49 league matches without defeat, Wenger could have been forgiven for adopting a zen-like mentality towards the rough and tumble of domestic conflict. After the elation of his third English title triumph, achieved in a manner of total supremacy, the Frenchman had seen his sharp-shooting Gunners begin the new season looking equally imperious.

Top of the table with 29 goals scored, they were 11 points ahead of seventh-placed Manchester United and appeared to be marching already towards another title. A pretender to the crown called Jose Mourinho had also arrived on these shores but at this point in history, there could be little argument that Arsenal ruled the land.

Meanwhile, in the north, the Red Devils still carried scars – more wounded pride than physical traces – from the ‘Battle of Old Trafford’ the previous September. United and Arsenal had slugged out a bitter stalemate, which ended in Martin Keown goading Ruud van Nistelrooy after the latter failed from the penalty spot in the 90th minute, igniting a powderkeg of on-pitch confrontations.

Even though the Gunners had four players banned for a total of nine matches and received a £175,000 fine (the largest ever handed down by the Football Association to a single club), there was no sense of shame. Instead, Wenger was proud of how his players had stood up to United and claimed their “five seconds” of bad behaviour was a rare character lapse from a team of great entertainers.

He had a point; Arsenal still finished top of the Fair Play league that season, despite the rap. Sir Alex Ferguson scowled, said the north Londoners had got off lightly and even accused them of cutting some sort of deal with the FA in advance of their disciplinary hearing. Surprisingly, the Scot was not charged himself for that comment; mind you, there would be more than enough run-ins between him and Soho Square in the years that followed.

“Of course, I’ll be telling my players there can be no repeat of what happened last season,” continued Wenger to the media. “We have a responsibility to keep things as much within football as possible.”

That proved to be wishful thinking. Any inner serenity Wenger may have attained was about to be ended by a United side determined to usurp the ‘upstarts’ from down south. As Gary Neville noted in his autobiography: “They acted as though the rest of the world was meant to sit back and admire their beautiful football. Sorry, count me out. Some of us had a mission to stop them by all legitimate means.”

Come matchday, the locals were revolting. The proposed takeover of United by Malcolm Glazer was drawing near; the American tycoon having taken his stake in the club to 28.1% by this stage. Over 1,000 fans marched on the United Megastore carrying a ‘Not For $ale’ banner, but they would not be able to prevent Glazer’s full ownership being ratified by the following summer.

Steve Bennett had taken charge of the previous season’s United v Arsenal clash, but it would be Mike Riley – England’s Euro 2004 referee – who got the gig this time. Before the game, Riley’s boss Keith Hackett described the …

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