Given the baggage of recent history that this fixture carries, it would be too much to expect it to have come from the mouth of either manager.
But the respective comments of Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson nevertheless delivered their own telling tale about how the balance of power in English football has, this season, tilted decisively in favour of the Londoners.
While Ferguson was reduced to some ill-judged and scarcely justified comments about the performance of referee Graham Poll, Wenger found himself having to cheer his players up about the fact that they had been forced to settle for a 1-1 draw.
Time was when that would have been an honourable and satisfactory result for both parties.
Not any more. The steel in the soul of Wenger’s Arsenal, version 2003/04, ensured even a place in the record books was not a cause for celebration after what they regarded as a missed opportunity to put United to the sword.
Louis Saha’s equaliser, four minutes from the end, ensured United departed from Highbury with their dignity intact and also subdued the atmosphere in the home side’s dressing room.
As a result, Wenger found himself in the unlikely position of being a virtually lone celebrant of the fact that his side had extended their unbeaten start to the season to 30 matches, eclipsing the previous record shared by the 1973/74 Leeds and 1987/88 Liverpool sides.
”As a manager you could say one of the most difficult things to get from your team is consistency and that’s why it means a lot,” Wenger said.
”Not as much as winning matches or trophies of course but I believe winning trophies is a consequence of consistency.”
Wenger admitted his players had been left bitterly frustrated at their failure to capitalise on the serial chances they generated in the first half or to kill the game off after Thierry Henry’s turbo-powered strike had given them a lead four minutes after the interval.
”They were a little bit flat,” Wenger said. ”But I keep it positive. It is a remarkable achievement to stay unbeaten for 30 games.
”I’ve got a lot of respect for my players. We’ve still got eight games to go but no matter what happens I will always respect a team that can remain unbeaten for 30 matches in a top championship.”
The point leaves Arsenal seven points clear of Chelsea and 12 ahead of United.
With games against Liverpool and Newcastle up next, the title could yet slip from his side’s grasp but Wenger is confident they have now done enough to ensure they will definitely finish in the top two.
”You always respect Man U, but they are 12 points behind us and five behind Chelsea,” he said.
”That is important because third or fourth does not get you into the Champions League — it gets you into qualifying.
”We go step by step. There are eight games to go and the team feels strong mentally.”
Wenger was unwilling to dwell on the lapse in concentration that allowed United to take something from a match in which they could easily have taken a severe beating, denying that his side had switched off in the closing stages.
”It was more psychologically that we wanted to protect the game,” he said.
”When it went back to 1-1 we dominated the game once again and it was just a moment of non-attention that cost us that goal.”
Ferguson was equally determined to stress the positive side of his team’s display ahead of Saturday’s rematch between the two sides in the FA Cup semifinal.
That competition represents United’s last chance of silverware this season but Ferguson is adamant that those predicting the imminent demise of his Old Trafford empire have misjudged things.
”The only thing it does for our season is tell you there is not a lot wrong with us,” the Scot claimed. ”In the main we defended well and Ruud [van Nistelrooy] could have won it for us at the end.
”Arsenal had the better chances but they never really controlled the match. We showed we’ve got some good players, which maybe some people had forgotten. We reminded people we’re not dead yet.”
Referee Graham Poll will certainly have been reminded of Ferguson’s existence after the Scot suggested United had been denied a penalty because the official had been involved in controversy in a previous appearance at Highbury.
Poll had not officiated at the Arsenal ground since December 2001, when he infuriated Wenger by sending off Ray Parlour and awarding Newcastle a penalty in a 3-1 win.
”The last time Graham Poll refereed here, Arsenal complained to the FA about his performance,” Ferguson said.
”That was almost two years ago and he has not been back since. It is almost like they are deciding who the referee is going to be. It is an immense pressure to put a referee under.”
The cause of Ferguson’s rage was an incident just after Henry’s goal in which Ryan Giggs got away from Sol Campbell on the right hand side of the box and appeared to have his heels clipped.
Television replays suggested there had been contact but that it came well outside the box.
The reality, however, was that Arsenal’s superiority was such that they able to afford the luxury of squandering a series of good first-half chances before Henry finally found the net with a strike of imperious authority.
An exchange of passes with Jose Antonio Reyes was followed by the Frenchman unleashing a shot that beat Roy Carroll for sheer pace as it swerved into the net in the middle of the United goal.
”They needed a special goal to get them in front and it was a special goal,” said Ferguson.
Even after Saha had tapped in a cross from fellow substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer four minutes from time, Arsenal could and should have clinched all three points when Lauren fired straight at Roy Carroll’s legs.
As it was, they had to settle for a single point that means that Wenger’s men still have a little bit of work left to do to clinch the title. — Sapa-AFP