That’s about it for today’s blog. Thanks for your company and emails, bye!

Here’s Arsene Wenger “It was a very positive performance and overall it reflects our season away from home. We looked a little tired in the last 20 minutes. It’s good to see the young players having the courage to play in this atmosphere. It was a very nice reception – it was classy. I have come here for a long, long time and next year somebody else will sit on the bench and they will get a very hostile reception!”

Here’s Daniel Taylor’s report from Old Trafford

Here’s Jose Mourinho “A draw wouldn’t have been unfair. They played well; the two young centre-backs did very, very well. We had a few more chances but that’s normal. We changed our approach in the second half, we had more width and we used Marouane to give us more presence in the box. I knew they were going to drop deep, and without Lukaku I felt we needed a presence in the air. I knew we would create problems that way.”

We’ll have Danny Taylor’s match report shortly, and I’m expecting reaction from Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho in our Whatsapp group.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles is the Man of the Match “We’re disappointed and unhappy to concede so late. You live and learn from these experiences and it was great to be out there. The manager trusts the young players and we tried to show what we could do. I’m happy playing midfield and I guess I delivered. The manager is like a father figure to me and it’s brilliant having someone like that.”

United need four points from the last three games to be certain of finishing second. Those games are Brighton (A), West Ham (A) and Watford (H)

That was a brilliant substitution from Jose Mourinho, even though he won’t get much credit for it. Arsenal struggled to handle Fellaini and he was by far the biggest three in the last 10 minutes.

Paul Pogba speaks! “I feel very good. We played well, we had lots of chances. The perfect season would have been the league – we didn’t manage that, but we want to finish second and win the FA Cup.”

Marouane Fellaini speaks! “The manager told me to get into the box. I know my quality, I know that if the ball comes in the box I can be dangerous. It was a good ball, I tried to flick it, and it’s a goal.”

Russell Richardson points out that Fellaini’s goal confirms United’s place in the top four, and thus ensures they will be eliminated in the last 16 of the Champions League next season.

“I thought it about time you had a comment from an old fart,” says Terry Woods, selflessly offering his services. “My memory takes me back to 1966-67, my Gooner debut season. Utd were the visitors at a packed Highbury evening game, there was I at the grand age of 11 stood at the front of the old West stand witnessing a 1-1 draw, United wearing an all white strip, in those days our shirts were an exact match: red shirt, white collar and cuffs. The North bank to my left was in good voice, the Clock end to my right was open to the night sky. There started my love affair with THE Arsenal.”

That win should ensure United finish the season in second place. They could end with 86 points, a title-winning total in some cultures.

Fellaini was under pressure and facing away from goal when Young’s cross reached him. He tried to guide it towards goal with the back of his appreciable noggin, and it took a deflection off the challenging Xhaka before drifting away from Ospina.

90 min Four added minutes.

89 min Rashford has a goal disallowed for offside. Fellaini headed Martial’s cross against the post, from where it rebounded off Rashford and into the net. He was clearly offside when Fellaini headed the ball and there are no complaints.

88 min “Very few players take shots from distance these days,” says Arthur Tee. “Teams are too concerned with possession and protecting the ball. United in particular create very few chances, relatively, but they are almost always gilt-edged.”

87 min Willock tries to slip a pass through for Welbeck, and Smalling does well to poke the ball back to De Gea.

87 min The match is petering out. Martial tries to run Bellerin, who defends solidly.

85 min Pogba, surrounded by Arsenal defenders in the area, backheels the ball into his own standing leg and away from danger.

84 min Why doesn’t Paul Pogba shoot from long range any more?

83 min The lively Young lifts a deep cross beyond the far post, where Valencia arrives late and volleys the ball into orbit.

82 min Young’s terrific cross almost finds the head of Fellaini, who appeals for a penalty after a bit of a wrestle with Mavropanos. I don’t think it was a foul.

81 min United are dominating the match without looking like they are going to score. It feels like an end-of-season friendly.

80 min “My favourite Arsenal/United memory was back in 2001,” says Xavier Pillai. “It was my first game ever at Highbury and I was 7. Two Fabien Barthez mistakes and the song ‘Give it to Barthez’ rang around the ground. After the match, we went to the side entrance on Avenell road and we continued to sing. We caught the United players coming out to their coach and there with his head nestled in Paul Scholes’ shoulder and with a few tears dripping from his eyes was Fabian Barthez. They rushed him on to the coach and there began my love affair with the Arsenal. A close second was being in the Emirates for that Henry header.”

79 min United win three corners in quick succession, and waste all of them.

78 min Talking of strangling, this picture gets more wonderful by the year.

77 min “Brian McClair strangling Winterburn has to be a favourite,” says Adam Hirst. “It got a bigger cheer at OT than most goals. Not the penalty or the Battle of OT matches, but obviously related.”

76 min Arsenal make their final change: the goalscorer Henrikh Mkhitaryan is replaced by Joe Willock.

76 min Ospina bumps into Fellaini and staggers around for a few seconds before falling over. He looks in a fair bit of pain, and Petr Cech is warming up just in case.

73 min It hasn’t really happened for Rashford since he came on. He looks rusty, which is probably because he is rusty.

72 min In-form goalgetter Chris Smalling misses a good chance, fresh-airing an attempted sidefoot from Martial’s low cross.

71 min Martial lifts a dangerous cross towards Fellaini, who is poised to apply noggin to ball when Mavropanos heads behind for a corner. Fine defending. He’s had a quietly impressive debut.

69 min Fellaini is robbed by Welbeck, who thrashes a shot towards goal from 25 yards. It’s well struck but too close to De Gea, who saves comfortably.

68 min United were so good against Spurs last weekend but this has been a pedestrian performance. It’s hard to fathom why they are quite so inconsistent.

66 min Martial enlivens the crowd by slaloming past three defenders, only to overhit a pass to Fellaini.

64 min Substitutions galore. For Arsenal, Danny Welbeck and Nacho Monreal replace Reiss Nelson and Sead Kolasinac. For United, Anthony Martial and Marouane Fellaini replace Ander Herrera and Jesse Lingard.

62 min Lingard plays a nice one-two with Pogba and has a shot blocked. This is much better from United.

61 min “As I’ve lived overseas since 1991, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Wenger’s Arsenal live,” says Adam Roberts. “I do have a vivid memory of taking my son to OT in 2001. A strange day - Craig Bellamy and John Hartson were really good for Coventry and Andy Goram was in goal for United. I was high up in the Peak District with son asleep in the car when I heard that Arsenal had lost 0-3 to Middlesbrough who had one shot on target and United had won the league.

“Live, two very clear memories of Highbury, both times standing in the Clock End. 1983 - United go 4-0 up in the League Cup semi 1st leg. And secondly, the FA Cup 1988 in a perfect position to see Chocky’s penalty sailing into the North Bank. The joy of the penalty award turning to ashes in our disbelieving mouths and Winterburn giving McClair loads, the beginning of much nastiness to follow over the years.”

Didn’t it begin a year earlier when Norman Whiteside and David Rocastle had a row? The Winterburn incident certainly helped, though.

59 min United are playing with a bit more urgency since the affront of Arsenal’s equaliser. It’s still not the most compelling game of association football, however.

55 min Mkhitaryan tries for his second, whacking a shot over the bar from the edge of the box. Arsenal look the likelier scores at the moment.

53 min Sanchez plays a fine pass to Valencia, whose cross eventually reaches Ashley Young. He hits a half-volley that is deflected behind for a corner.

51 min “I come from a younger generation of fans who never really got to experience the rivalry in its pomp,” says Abhu Tyagi. “Yet it was those battles of those early 2000s that ignited my interest in football. My best friend as a five-year old was British and he was a United supporter who hated Arsenal. As a five-year old is wont to do, I started doing the exact same thing. Since then, I loved every moment of it; Ronaldo and Rooney running amok in 2009, that counter-attack in 2010, 8-2, RVP’s goal but perhaps my most vivid memory is more recent: the abject 3-0 defeat in 2015, where for the first time in a long time, United lost to Arsenal in a meaningful Premier League game. I saw my childhood crumbling to dust, as I received message after message from Arsenal fans, all too keen to gloat. Perhaps the worst moment (and there were many) of the LVG era.”

50 min Marcus Rashford replaces Lukaku, who is hobbling off the field. It looks like a knock rather than something that might keep him out of the FA Cup final, but you never know with these things.

50 min Lukaku is down after a strong but fair tackle from Mavropanos. I think he needs to come off.

49 min “Is it fair to single out any one Arsenal player as an example of stasis, or worse?” says Charles Antaki. “Probably not. But if you wanted to, Kolasinac is a decent candidate for the familiar trope of declining expectations. He started out as a terrific lump of muscular, marauding attacking wing-backery, and now, on today’s basis at least, he’s become just a terrific lump. But as with the game as a whole, it’s hard to care at the moment.”

48 min Maitland-Niles makes a surging run into the United area, only to mishit a left-footed shot that takes a double deflection and bounces through to De Gea. It was a lovely run though.

47 min Crikey, what a statistic this is from the folks on Sky Sports. United have led at half-time in 268 Premier League games at Old Trafford. They’ve won 253, drawn 15 and lost none.

47 min “The 2-4 at Highbury in 2005 is my favourite,” says Liam Moseley. “Arsenal were at the end of a cycle; United were at the beginning of theirs. Neither side were anywhere near winning the league yet the game so was intense and full of hatred for one another that it made a compelling and thrilling encounter. There hasn’t been a game like it in the Premier League since.”

Yeah, what I like about that game is that it meant absolutely nothing and absolutely everything. Chelsea were also going to win the league, but by then Arsenal and United loathed each other so much that context was irrelevant. It was just wonderful.

46 min Peep peep! United begin the second half of this pulsating match.

Half-time email

“Hi Rob,” says Ted Lee. “I had to staff a computer fair the day of the 1999 semi-final replay, so I couldn’t watch the game. There were no smartphones back then, limited internet connectivity where I was, and it was still a time where to watch the I had to drive 40 minutes at 6 a.m. on a Saturday to find a sports bar carrying Setanta. But the FA Cup game was being televised, so I recorded it at home and it wasn’t too hard to avoid the result. I turned on the TV before rewinding my VCR, and the TV tuner was on the station it was recording and in that odd way you hear the TV’s audio for a couple of seconds before the video came on, I heard what was unmistakably Ferguson’s voice say ‘We got out of jail.’ I muted the TV to not hear any more and very much enjoyed the next two hours.”

I bet you enjoyed minutes 69-109 a lot more than most United fans did.

45 min “I still love the 6-2 in the Rumbelows Cup,” says Anthony Perrin. “Wallace and Sharpe on the rampage. United were around 25 years without the league and Arsenal had been exchanging league titles. It made be break the tab on my VHS so it couldn’t be recorded over. That was a massive commitment in the early Nineties.”

I got the worst mark of my life in an exam the next day, having been far too giddy to do any last-minute revision, or care less about the exam itself. I’d like to say I was also giddy about Thatcher resigning that day, but that would be a bald-faced one.

44 min A cross from the right is headed wide from 12 yards by the flying Nelson. It was a decent enough effort. There wasn’t much pace on the ball so he had a lot of work to do, and he couldn’t do it.

41 min Young’s mishit cross from the left smacks off the outside of the near post!

40 min Xhaka, already booked, is penalised for handball. Kevin Friend decides not to give him a second yellow, presumably because it was a misjudgement rather than a cynical handball.

39 min “Surprised you have got this far without anyone mentioning the 1979 Cup Final yet,” says Nicholas Porritt. “A vivid childhood memory made more memorable because there was so little live football back then. At that time Arsenal really were vile, barely above Leeds United in the popularity stakes and encapsulated perfectly by the Willie Young foul the following year. That Man Utd team was typical of the post-Busby, pre-Fergie United: stylish, expensive, but ultimately unreliable and disappointing. The Jaguar of the Football League. You couldn’t help falling in love with them.”

Dave Sexton’s United stylish, really? It was before my time, but I’ve read one or two alternative appraisals.

38 min A bit of pinball in the Arsenal area ends with a shot from Lukaku that deflects off Bellerin and is easily saved by Ospina.

37 min Back in the year 2018, Arsenal are having an excellent spell. As Martin Tyler says on Sky, an equaliser wouldn’t be undeserved.

GOAL! Manchester United 0-1 Arsenal (Wiltord 57) Arsenal are surely going to be champions now! Sylvain Wiltord has continued their record of scoring in every game and taken them to the brink of glory. Ljungberg, inevitably, was involved. He ran through a woolly challenge from Blanc and hit a shot that was pushed away by Barthez. It came to Wiltord, who slid it nonchalantly into the net with his left foot!

36 min Aubameyang misses an excellent chance, heading weakly at De Gea from 10 yards after a good cross from Bellerin.

34 min Has anyone trademarked the phrase “end-of-season feel”?

31 min “Mkhitaryan so far looks like he never left,” says Adam Roberts. “Some nice touches but rubbish at crucial points.”

30 min After a decent United break, Lingard’s long-range shot is blocked by the trailing leg of Chambers. He should have played in Valencia on the right.

27 min Maitland-Niles clips a quick pass into the area for Aubameyang, who can’t make room for a shot. Arsenal have played some lively stuff going forward.

26 min Arsenal have two unsuccessful penalty appeals in 20 seconds. The first was a Mkhitaryan dive, the second was a tackle by Sanchez on Maitland-Niles. I don’t think it was a penalty.

25 min Pogba’s free-kick hits the wall and deflects to Sanchez, who is offside.

24 min Xhaka is booked for a foul on Lingard 25 yards from goal. Pogba will want a piece of this.

23 min “One of the saddest things is that if you’d told someone 10 years ago that there’d be an Arsenal-United game in late April, with no impact on the title race, with neither team anywhere near winning the title, no one would have believed you,” says AB Parker. “This game has a look of a preseason friendly at the moment. With the team we’ve put out, United should be battering us.”

21 min “One of my least favourite footballing games in history has to be Arsenal 1-2 United in Nov 2014, in which Arsenal had about 300 shots on goal and United had one,” says Jordan Pickering. “One shot on goal and they came away with a 2-1 victory. It so encapsulates what it means to be an Arsenal supporter.”

20 min Mkhitaryan almost equalises after a fine move. Bellerin crossed low to Maitland-Niles, who flicked a dainty backheel to Mkhitaryan on the edge of the box. He took a touch and drove a low shot just wide of the far post.

19 min “My favourite Arsenal/United moment is more down to circumstance than any actual investment in the rivalry,” says Matt Dony. “I’m a Liverpool fan, who also harbours a fairly intense dislike of Wenger and Arsenal (but my word, do I respect him!) Anyway, May 2002, I spent a Monday night watching Bob Dylan in Cardiff CIA (followed by drinking in a hotel bar being bored by Ebdon’s slow slow victory, but that’s another story). I spent the next few days staying at a friend’s house, the smuggest United fan I know, still on a giddy, Dylan-induced high. I did not particularly want Arsenal to win the league that fateful Wednesday, but the fact that I got to enjoy my friend’s disappointment, anger, and dejection at Wiltord’s goal was a wonderful thing, having spent the previous few years having to tolerate his pride in Fergie’s success. Ah, magical memories. The future’s yours, the past is mine.”

I didn’t find that game too distressing, weirdly. The title was gone. Losing to Leverkusen on away goals the week before; now that was pain.

17 min Sanchez’s header was actually diverted onto the post by Bellerin, an heroic and entirely futile intervention.

15 min Matic sprays a superb crossfield pass to Valencia, whose good cross is headed away by Chambers. United are having a lot of the game now.

14 min “The defining match was 28 November 1992,” says Paul Hayes. “United had signed Cantona two days before and I was still reeling with shock. He was brilliant.and, let’s be honest, very tough. (He had even got me grudgingly admiring Leeds.) My father had brought me up on stories of the toughness of United players able to boss the opposition with skill and also physicality – Edwards and Stiles being his favourites. That steel had been developing – remember the United vs Arsenal brawl two seasons earlier, defining in the way that United began to compete in every aspect while not quite gelling.

“But that’s not this story. In the end, Cantona wasn’t in team to face Arsenal. Instead Giggs was brilliant on the right wing and Lee Sharpe was quick on the lift and Hughes was bolshie, aggressive and bundled in an ugly goal bettering Adams after Giggs and then Sharpe had bettered Winterburn and Dixon, I think. The second half was dour, fractured and attritional but United clung on for a win this time. When I spoke with my father that evening I told him that United would win the league because they’re bloody tough physically and mentally and with Cantona in the team they’d have the flair to beat anyone.”

12 min United are slowly starting to dominate possession, though the game is still fairly flat.

10 min “Hello Rob,” says Russell George. “My most vivid memory of United-Arsenal was probably the brawl in 1990. I was 16 at the time, sitting in the main stand at Old Trafford so had a pretty good view of it all. The crowd reaction that day was positively feral, both exhilarating and frankly pretty scary. If only OT had a little bit more of that I’d probably try and go a bit more. I also remember watching Grandstand when we were losing in the cup match in 88. The reporter was doing an update when we got the late penalty so they stayed with it. When McClair hit it over I was absolutely distraught. Still, there have been more happy times than sad. After we beat them 4-1 in the Michael Knighton game in 1989 I wrote a full-length report which I sent to Patrick Barclay at the Independent. I really wanted to be a football reporter at the time, and Patrick was gracious enough to ring me up one Sunday morning to say how much he liked my writing.”

8 min Smalling pokes a pass towards Lingard, in space on the right of the box. He drills a low cross-shot that is kicked away from inside his own six-yard box by Chambers.

7 min “Hi Rob,” says Brad McMillan. “As a United fan, it was a blessing that my best mate from school supported Arsenal. During that period, 1996-2005 (age 15-24 for us both), we were almost inseparable, and there’s no way either of us would have enjoyed it as much without the other. For both of us, Utd v Arsenal means growing up: girls, (not fast) cars and alcohol. The rest of the time was obviously squandered. Anyway, when I look back, my most prominent memories are Utd losing, specifically the Old Trafford defeats in 1998 and 2002. The next, possibly my favourite, is the feeling of incredulity when John O’Shea chipped in at Highbury I’m 2005. Keane-Vieira in the tunnel would have meant nothing without that cherry. Also, it now feels like the very last blow of that era - and Utd won, even if the league was Chelsea’s by then.”

6 min United have started slowly, as they wont to do. Arsenal look much more sprightly, particularly the returning Mkhitaryan.

5 min “This may be common knowledge,” says Doremus Schafer, “but I only just now realized that Bergkamp’s saved penalty strictly speaking should have been retaken for encroachment by Paul Scholes.”

That’s a good spot. Can you imagine if David Elleray had ordered a retake? Roy Keane would have been straight out of his early bath to administer advice.

4 min Matic’s mishit volley falls nicely for Pogba 10 yards out. He spins around, takes aim ... and shanks the ball well wide of the near post with his left foot.

3 min It’s been a decent start from Young Arsenal, with lots of possession in the United half.

2 min “Arsenal’s late win in 2007 over perhaps Ferguson’s greatest ever side (with the bonus addition of Henrik Larsson) always sticks in my mind, not so much for the quality of the football, which was probably excellent, but for Henry’s late headed winner,” says Matt Loten. “I’m sure he scored one or two others with his noggin over the years, but I struggle to recall any, and at such a crucial moment. Bit like Messi in the 2009 Champions League final.”

That was the same game when he celebrated in Gary Neville’s face, wasn’t it?

1 min Arsenal get the match under way.

Sir Alex Ferguson has presented Arsene Wenger with a special memento on behalf of United. Jose Mourinho is in the mix as well. It’s a love-in! It’s an unlikely, moving scene, and a lovely touch from Ferguson. They’ve come a long way from the days when Wenger said he would “never talk about that man again”.

The players emerge from the tunnel. Arsene Wenger follows them, and is applauded down the touchline by the United fans.

There will be no Champions League final for Manchester City - their former player Lucy Bronze scored the winning goal against them for Lyon in the semi-final second leg.

“Some great memories,” says Yoxall. “The 4-1 on the opening day 89/90 was great; we just didn’t expect it. The 99 cup game, the game at Highbury when RVN netted, and the tide turned in the title race, the superb counter in the Champions League and the 8-2. Plus all the various “battles”! But on a personal note, my son’s first game was the 2-1 where Arsene was sent to the stand but had nowhere to go. You never forget your first time! I’m sure we’ll give him a respectful reception today.”

One for the Arsenal fans “How differently does Wenger’s legacy play if Keane doesn’t do his knee at Elland Road in 1997?” says Harvey Auzorst. “Without that half of the first double you’re looking at one FA Cup in his first five years, and the idea of Wenger changing everything seems a bit flimsy.”

They might have won it anyway but it’s an interesting point. There are so many ifs in the rivalry: the Treble and the Invincible season wouldn’t have happened had Bergkamp and Van Nistelrooy scored last-minute penalties.

There are a few minutes remaining at the London Stadium, where West Ham are playing the champions Manchester City. You won’t believe the score!

At its furious peak, the United/Arsenal rivalry brought out the Danny Dyer in almost all of us. I had to be held back at least twice. What are your favourite memories of that rivalry? It doesn’t have to be from that glorious period between 1996 and 2005. It could be before (Whiteside v Rocastle, Winterburn v McClair), or after (the late sting at Highbury in 2007, Cristiano Ronaldo scoring from a different postcode in 2009).

Or it could just be 14 April 1999, the greatest game in English football history. Were you on the pitch? Were you the fan whose fag breath is one of David Beckham’s most vivid memories of that night? If you have any good tales or memories, email them in. I promise that, when I brazenly nick them for the book I’m writing on this very subject, I’ll give you a credit.

The best fan story of all belongs to Barry Ferst. You might not know his name. But I bet you know his face.

Pre-match reading