Manchester United v Arsenal: Great Games No 3 - Gunners hit for six

Arsenal fans will be waking up today in amazement following last night's stunning 5-7 win at Reading in the Capital One cup. It quite truly was one of the greatest games ever as the Gunners came back from four down to book their place into the next round of the draw.

However, as we continue our build-up to this weekend's clash with Manchester United at Old Trafford with our countdown of the five greatest Premier League games at the Theatre of Dreams, we're going to highlight another high-scoring affair - unfortunately this one didn't go in Arsenal's favour.

The top two clubs in England clashed at Old Trafford in February 2001 with Arsenal looking to close a 13 gap on the leaders United. Instead the Red Devils ultimately sealed their 14th league title.

Sir Alex Ferguson's men got off to a dream start with Dwight Yorke, who had fallen down the pecking order at Old Trafford, scoring after just two minutes. The former Villa forward bundled home a Paul Scholes cross from close range.

Arsenal drew level though in fine fashion. A crisp passing move down the right saw Henry stab the ball home to equalise. However, parity was short lived as Yorke scored his second of the game. Arsenal's defence was caught napping as a ball over the top found Yorke in acres of space and he coolly slotted home.

Yorke was on a mission and he completed his hat-trick after just 22 minutes. Beckham pinged a ball up towards Yorke and the flight of the ball beat Stepanovs. Yorke raced clear, kept his cool and placed the ball past Seaman.

Arsenal's defence was in disarray and three minutes later the champions had made it four. This time Yorke turned provider for Roy Keane.

Amazingly United had gone into the game struggling for goals. They had only managed four in their past six games. Twenty-five minutes in against their main challengers and United had already matched that stat.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made it five with eight minutes of the first half still to play. Nicky Butt got the better of Gile Grimandi and, with time to pick a pass, played the ball into the Norwegian's feet and he was never going to miss.

The second half failed to live up to the expectations of the first 45 minutes, but United made it six right at the death. To rub salt into Arsenal's wounds it was former Spurs striker Teddy Sheringham who had the last word.

 

It was an embarrassing day for the visitors, but, unbeknown to Wenger at the time, things were only going to get worse a decade later.

United moved 16 points clear of Arsenal following this result. Fergie's men went on to win the Premier League that season by 10 points. Arsenal finished as runners-up.

Tomorrow we will take a look back at a much happier visit to Old Trafford for the Gunners.