“My directors told me on no account to win the game,” joked visiting manager Neil Warnock afterwards. “So they’re delighted to get a replay, which hopefully we’ll fill the ground for.”
Unsurprisingly, while Warnock made no concessions to Tuesday’s trip to Plymouth Argyle, home manager Arsène Wenger selected as if already aboard the plane that flies Arsenal to Munich tomorrow afternoon for Tuesday’s Champions League encounter.
Sol Campbell’s ankle will surely preclude his deployment in Germany, but only four who started on Monday against Crystal Palace began yesterday. Thierry Henry, Jens Lehmann, Patrick Vieira, Ashley Cole and Lauren were given the afternoon off. There was, however, an Englishman among the 16 — substitute goalkeeper Stuart Taylor.
Wenger’s selection made a potentially prosaic encounter into a riveting, blood-and-thunder tie with the most dramatic of denouements. Arsenal’s young bucks were as eager as Sheffield United’s journeymen, who created the first chance in the sixth minute when a thrilling run from Nick Montgomery forced Philippe Senderos into conceding a corner.
It was taken short before Andy Liddell crossed. Gray’s downward header hit Alumunia’s hand and knee before the goalkeeper scuffed the ball away. Sheffield’s tough-tackling rattled the home team. Unable to beat them, Arsenal joined them, tackling with venom themselves and utilising Gaël Clichy and Emmanuel Eboue as attacking wing-backs and Fredrik Ljungberg as almost a third striker.
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Francesc Fàbregas and Dennis Bergkamp went close and Sheffield United’s backs were not so much against the wall, as embedded into it. Yet, they had their moments. Leigh Bromby should have done better with a 31st-minute header. Moments later, poor Arsenal defending allowed Liddell to curl a splendid effort inches wide.
Then, after 35 minutes, came high drama. Danny Cullip made borderline legal challenges on Bergkamp and then Fàbregas. Bergkamp remonstrated with Cullip and in the inevitable mêlée that followed, Reyes raised his gloved hand to both Cullip and Liddell. Bergkamp was dismissed, according to referee Neale Barry, for a push in the face. “They sent the wrong man off,” said Warnock.
Unsurprisingly, Wenger did not see Reyes’s nonsense, but he did see Cullip as the guilty party. “I was shocked by what the number 32 (Cullip) did to Fàbregas. He hit him on the head with his studs.”
The temperature rocketed. Before the break, Liddell, Paul Thirlwell and Fàbregas were booked for savage challenges that warranted the ultimate sanction. To conclude Barry’s hapless, error-strewn first half, Cullip was desperately unfortunate to see his headed goal disallowed. “A good goal. When the referee sees that replay, he’ll be disappointed,” said Warnock.
After the restart, Arsenal’s 10 men went for broke. In the 49th minute the excellent Paddy Kenny saved Sheffield United with a superb, one-handed stop from Eboue, after a mesmerising one-two with Mathieu Flamini.
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As Arsenal became increasingly frustrated, Robert Pires emerged and, after 78 minutes, Sheffield United finally buckled. Reyes may have been lucky to have remained on the field, but he played a handsome one-two with Pires before his through-ball eluded Phil Jagielka and found Flamini, who swivelled and shot. Kenny parried and Pires tapped in the rebound.
In desperation, Sheffield United charged forward. From a short corner, Senderos handled Cullip’s flick to offer Gray the moment of his career.
The last time Arsenal were beaten by lower league opposition in the FA Cup was in 1996 when long-forgotten Australian Carl Veart scored the winner for Sheffield United — after a 1-1 draw at Highbury. Let us hope for his sake that Wenger is not a superstitious man. And, for his sake, that Warnock is.
STAR MAN: Danny Cullip (Sheffield United)
Player ratings: Arsenal: Almunia 6, Eboue 6, Touré 6, Senderos 6, Clichy 6, Ljungberg 6, Flamini 7, Fàbregas 7, Reyes 7 (Cygan, 86min 4), Bergkamp 6, Van Persie 5 (Pires, 65min 7)
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Sheffield United: Kenny 8, Geary 6, Jagielka 8, Cullip 8, Bromby 6, Harley 6, Liddell 8 (Francis, 82min 6), Montgomery 7 (Forte, 82min 6), Thirlwell 6 (Shaw, h-t 7), Tonge 6, Gray 8
Sent off: Bergkamp 35
Referee: N Barry
Attendance: 36,891