ARSENAL title ambition suffered a jolt as they went down 0-1 to Park Ji Sung goal in the top of the table clash against rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
With the win Manchester United moved to the top of the Premier League with a game in hand and Arsenal drop to second place with two points behind the league leader.
The Gunners, who have lost five games already, rarely worried United, who extended their unbeaten league run to 16 games since the start of the season - a club record.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger handed a Premier League debut to 20-year-old Polish keeper Wojciech Szczesny.
He did little wrong but left-back Gael Clichy struggled against Nani and centre-backs Laurent Koscielny and Sebastien Squillaci were like strangers.
But they were scary enough and Arsenal seemed to believe the best way of dealing with their attacking threat was to kick them out of it. Nani, and Anderson twice, felt the impact of the visitors' mistimed tackles.
Nani was central to most of United's attacks and went close on 22 minutes when Darren Fletcher's cross was headed straight to him by Squillaci.
The Portuguese winger smacked a first-time shot which whistled inches wide of a post.
It was a big let-off for Arsenal and they had another one on the half hour as Marouane Chamakh ducked to head clear, slipped and the ball struck his arm.
The crowd were screaming for a penalty but ref Howard Webb was not having it.
Arsenal were certainly robust and, in Fletcher's mind, unfairly so. He went nuts when Alex Song slid in on him, only for Webb to wave play on.
But the Scot was a lot happier four minutes before the break when United scored what turned out to be the winner.
Nani's cross took a deflection off Clichy and Park cleverly re-adjusted to head over Szczesny and into the corner.
Ferguson has a great deal of faith in Park to produce the goods in this sort of game and the Korean did not let him down.
The visitors' frustrations boiled over and finally Webb got the yellow card out for Chamakh's foul on Nani, followed quickly by another for Andrey Arshavin for upending Fletcher.
Arsenal knew they had to improve considerably after the break if they were to get anything out of this.
Captain-for-the-night Tomas Rosicky had a go with a volley which never really looked threatening, while the marquee players like Arshavin and Nasri were not showing.
United came close to doubling the lead on 54 minutes. Rooney, who had been pretty quiet, took a ball from Anderson and played him back in.
But the Brazilian was foiled as Szczesny spread himself well and blocked the effort.
United, however, had skipper Vidic to thank for keeping them ahead when Nasri at last sprang to life with a 20-yard shot.
Van der Sar could only parry the ball into the path of Chamakh but, as the Moroccan aimed goalwards, Vidic slid across to save the day.
The game was opening up and Nani broke on the hour. Clichy initially robbed him, only for the winger to win it back before firing over from 12 yards out.
It was time for the big Guns, with Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas coming on for Rosicky and Jack Wilshere.
United, though, won a penalty with 17 minutes left as Nani cut back by the goal-line and the sliding Clichy prevented the ball going past him with an arm.
Rooney stepped up to finish things off from the spot with a curving run but he blazed his penalty miles over.
Luckily for him, it did not matter. Next stop Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
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