Manchester United ended Arsenal’s 49-game unbeaten run in the Premier League in 2004.
The Gunners achieved one of the greatest feats in football history by going the entire 2003/04 season unbeaten. Arsene Wenger’s legendary team was branded as ‘The Invincibles’.
That unbeaten run carried onto next season, with Arsenal going 49 games without defeat. The 50th was at Old Trafford against Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.
That fixture became one of the most controversial games in Premier League history.
What Sir Alex Ferguson told Manchester United players before they ended Arsenal’s unbeaten run
Arsenal and Manchester United shared a very fierce rivalry back in the day.
Ferguson and Wenger had many heated battles at the time, and the two teams just didn’t like each other.
During the famous Invincibles season, Ruud van Nistelrooy missed a penalty that would’ve stopped Arsenal going unbeaten.
Things got a bit physical at the end of that game, and that made United desperate to end the Gunners’ run the next time they faced them.
Ferguson was so keen to beat Wenger that before the famous 50th game at Old Trafford in 2004, the legendary Manchester United manager sent a clear message to his players.
Rooney revealed that on the Stick to Football podcast: “I had just signed for United that year and obviously there was a big rivalry between United and Arsenal at the time.
“I always remember, before the game, the manager was like ‘We can’t let these (lot) win 50 games’.
“Obviously with what happened with Ruud in the year before as well, you could feel that intensity.”
What happened between Sol Campbell and Wayne Rooney during and after the game?
Arsenal felt hard done by at the end of that game at Old Trafford in 2004.
Several decisions went against the Gunners that day. To make things worse, Rooney was awarded a penalty late in the second half after he went down.
Replays showed that the United striker tricked the referee as Sol Campbell made no contact with Rooney – the attacker just dived.
That gave Manchester United the lead, and to rub salt in Arsenal’s wounds, Rooney scored the second goal of the game to hand the Gunners a 2-0 defeat.
Campbell was upset with Rooney for a while, so much so that the Arsenal legend refused to speak with him even on England duty.
Rooney said: “We met up at England and he wouldn’t speak to me. I was like “Sol, come on, man!”
