‘Arsenal’s way of winning matches — usually in the first five minutes — is hard to fault, but for drama, Old Trafford is the place to go. In the 85th minute, Everton almost poached the lead thanks to a mesmerising cameo from Wayne Rooney, the teenage prodigy. By the time the referee called a halt five minutes later, the Merseysiders had been bludgeoned by three goals.
Even Sir Alex Ferguson said that the scoreline flattered his team, who worked hard enough but, until the chaotic finale, could not find the killer touch. Buoyed by five successive wins, Ferguson had said before kick-off that his team was "back in business" and "once again the United of old". The laird of Old Trafford almost lived to regret his bravado, although this victory lifted them to fourth place in the Barclaycard Premiership.
Paul Scholes scored twice in the bombardment that came so late that Sven-Göran Eriksson had left his seat in the directors’ box. The England head coach had gone to Old Trafford to check that none of his players would be declared lame by Ferguson. There is nothing wrong with Scholes, to judge from his second strike in the dying seconds that might have killed someone behind the goal if it had not soared into the net.
David Beckham left with an ice pack on a sore calf muscle, but he is expected to be fit to face Slovakia, while, behind him, Gary Neville slotted back comfortably into the old routine and should have done enough to usurp Danny Mills.’