The final result, a 0–0 draw, turned out to be significant for Arsenal as they went on to finish the league season without a single defeat, something that had only been achieved once before in English football, by Preston North End in 1888–89.

However, the rivalry could be traced back to Alex Ferguson's first fixture against Arsenal as United manager in 1987, when David Rocastle was sent off and a row erupted.

[2] The following season, Brian McClair missed a penalty for United in an FA Cup tie and Nigel Winterburn made a point of aggravating him.

In a match that finished in a 2–2 draw, Sol Campbell received a straight red card for violent conduct after elbowing Ole Gunnar Solskjær in the face.

Arsenal eventually won the match 2–0 and the result infuriated Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson to such an extent that he kicked a boot across the changing room that hit David Beckham above the left eye.

[7] As Manchester United and Arsenal were the respective holders of the Premier League and FA Cup, both teams met in another heated match at the Millennium Stadium a month earlier for the 2003 Community Shield.

[11] Arsenal were missing defender Sol Campbell from their team after the death of his father, and manager Arsène Wenger dropped wingers Robert Pires and Sylvain Wiltord in favour of Ray Parlour and Freddie Ljungberg, creating a more physical midfield.

[12] United themselves were without Paul Scholes due to injury, and they played a 4–3–2–1 formation with Phil Neville, Roy Keane and Quinton Fortune completing a defensively minded midfield.

[12] Another foul on Ronaldo gave Giggs another chance to apply pressure with a crossed free-kick shortly after, but Ruud van Nistelrooy was only able to loop the ball over the goal with his head with goalkeeper Jens Lehmann beaten.

[12] The match was characterised by a large number of fouls – 13 by United, 18 by Arsenal – and referee Steve Bennett showed four yellow cards to each team, although most of those came as a result of the fracas at the end of the game.

Vieira fell to the ground and kicked out at Van Nistelrooy in retaliation, causing the Manchester United striker to jump backwards.

[12] At the final whistle, Van Nistelrooy was immediately confronted by Arsenal players Martin Keown, Lauren, Ray Parlour, Ashley Cole and Kolo Touré.

In defence of their teammate, Manchester United players Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gary Neville, Mikaël Silvestre, Quinton Fortune and Rio Ferdinand also became involved in the situation.

[20] As a club, Arsenal were charged with "failing to ensure the proper behaviour of their players", while their players' charges ranged from one charge of improper conduct for Ashley Cole's "involvement in a confrontation with Cristiano Ronaldo after the final whistle" to Lauren's two counts of violent behaviour for "kicking out at Quinton Fortune following the penalty award and for forcibly pushing Ruud van Nistelrooy in the back following the final whistle", and two counts of improper conduct for "confronting Van Nistelrooy after Patrick Vieira's sending-off, and for confronting Ryan Giggs after the final whistle".