Arsenal record gives reason to believe

Recent history suggests Manchester United FC will face an awkward evening when they visit Arsenal FC for the second leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final. Defending champions United have won just one of their last ten visits to Arsenal and face opponents with a long unbeaten home record in the competition.

• United, however, have a slender but precious advantage for this trip to north London in the shape of John O'Shea's 17th-minute strike in the first leg. The holders might have added to their advantage but Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tévez and Cristiano Ronaldo were all denied by first-half stops from Manuel Almunia while Ronaldo saw a swerving 30-metre effort strike the crossbar midway through the second period.

• Arsène Wenger's men can nevertheless take heart from their fine home form, having not lost in 24 matches in the UEFA Champions League proper – be it at their old Highbury home or the Arsenal Stadium – since going down 2-1 to Chelsea FC in a quarter-final second leg in April 2004.

• The Gunners have four wins and a draw at home in this season's competition – and have not shipped a goal to a visiting team in the UEFA Champions League for 514 minutes. You have to go back to the previous time they welcomed Premier League opposition here in the competition for the last time they conceded – scored by Liverpool FC's Dirk Kuyt 26 minutes into last season's 1-1 draw in the quarter-final first leg.

• United, however, have not conceded in their last four away games in the UEFA Champions League knockout stage, since a 1-1 draw at Olympique Lyonnais in the 2007/08 first knockout round. Since then, the holders have recorded a 2-0 win at AS Roma, goalless draws at FC Barcelona and FC Internazionale Milano and a 1-0 win at FC Porto.

• Ominously for Arsenal, they have managed to prevail only once in the eight UEFA club competition ties in which they lost the first leg away from home, defeating HNK Hajduk Split on away goals in the 1978/79 UEFA Cup second round after a 2-1 away loss was followed by a 1-0 home win. Two recent UEFA Champions League campaigns have been ended in the first knockout round following an away defeat; against PSV Eindhoven in 2006/07 (0-1 away, 1-1 home) and FC Bayern München a year earlier (1-3 away, 1-0 home).

• Arsenal have lost all four of the ties in which they have suffered a 1-0 away defeat in the first leg. Aside from the PSV defeat, the London club also lost to KFC Winterslag in the 1981/82 UEFA Cup second round (0-1 away, 2-1 home), FK Crvena Zvezda in the 1978/79 UEFA Cup third round (0-1 away, 1-1 home) and PAOK FC in the 1997/98 UEFA Cup first round (0-1 away, 1-1 home).

• United, by contrast, have won all bar five of the 21 UEFA club competition ties in which they have won the first leg at home. However, on the last occasion, against AC Milan in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League semi-finals, a 3-2 win at Old Trafford was followed by a 3-0 away defeat.

• Perhaps more worryingly, United have lost two of three ties in which they won 1-0 at home in the first leg, that sole success coming en route to the club's first European triumph in 1967/68 when a semi-final defeat of Real Madrid CF in Manchester was followed by a 3-3 draw in Spain. United lost to Juventus in the 1976/77 UEFA Cup second round (1-0 home, 0-3 away) and Hungary's Székesfehérvári Videoton SC in the quarter-finals of the same competition in 1984/85 (1-0 home, 0-1 away, 4-5 pens).

• While Wenger is seeking to guide Arsenal to a second final in four seasons, Sir Alex Ferguson's aim is to retain the trophy United won by defeating another Premier League adversary, Chelsea FC, in last season's final.

• It looks like a case of the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object given that United have not lost away from home in the competition for more than two years. This eleven-match run dates back to their semi-final loss at AC Milan on 2 May 2007 and includes two wins and three draws on their travels this term.

• Arsenal beat Villarreal CF in the quarter-finals (1-1 away, 3-0 home) after the drama of a penalty shoot-out victory against Roma in the previous round (1-0 home, 0-1 away, 7-6 pens). They had earlier finished second in Group G with a record of W3 D2 L1.

• United reached the semi-finals with a 3-2 aggregate victory against Porto (2-2 home, 1-0 away). They had previously overcome Inter (0-0 away, 2-0 home) after finishing top of Group E with a record of W2 D4 L0.

• This is United's eleventh semi-final in the competition and their record is W3 L7:
2007/08 FC Barcelona 1-0 won (0-0 away, 1-0 home)
2006/07 Milan 3-5 lost (3-2 home, 0-3 away)
2001/02 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 3-3 lost (2-2 home, 1-1 away)
1998/99 Juventus 4-3 won (1-1 home, 3-2 away)
1996/97 BV Borussia Dortmund 0-2 lost (0-1 away, 0-1 home)
1968/69 Milan 1-2 lost (0-2 away, 1-0 home)
1967/68 Real Madrid CF 4-3 won (1-0 home, 3-3 away)
1965/66 FK Partizan 1-2 lost (0-2 away, 1-0 home)
1957/58 Milan 2-5 lost (2-1 home, 0-4 away)
1956/57 Madrid 3-5 lost (1-3 away, 2-2 home)

• This is Arsenal's second semi-final, their solitary past appearance having brought victory against Villarreal in 2005/06 (1-0 home, 0-0 away).

• Aside from last week's first leg, United won on the only previous occasion they have faced another English club in the UEFA Champions League – last season's final against Chelsea in Moscow. Sir Alex's men prevailed 6-5 on penalties after Ronaldo and Frank Lampard had traded first-half goals.

• Looking further back, they won their sole previous all-English two-legged European tie, defeating then holders Tottenham Hotspur FC in the first round of the 1963/64 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. United overturned a 2-0 first-leg loss with a 4-1 victory at Old Trafford.

• Arsenal will be hoping for third time lucky when it comes to facing compatriot clubs in Europe following earlier losses to Chelsea and Liverpool. The Gunners went down 5-3 on aggregate to Liverpool in last season's UEFA Champions League quarter-finals (1-1 home, 2-4 away) having previously lost at the same stage to Chelsea in the 2003/04 competition (1-1 away, 1-2 home).

• United and Arsenal have met 205 times in all competitions. The head-to-head record is 83 United wins, 77 Arsenal victories and 45 draws.

• The respective managers are the two longest-serving in the English Premier League, Sir Alex having arrived in Manchester in 1986 and Wenger in London in 1996. Their rivalry has provided no shortage of intrigue and their clubs' full head-to-head record since the 1996/97 season is 14 wins for Arsenal, 14 for United and ten draws, although two of those drawn matches were settled in a shoot-out.

• Arsenal won the 2005 FA Cup final 5-4 on penalties following a 0-0 draw, Robin van Persie converting for the Gunners and Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney doing likewise for United. Paul Scholes was the only player to fail from the spot.

• United did emerge triumphant in the 2003 FA Community Shield match between the teams, winning 4-3 on penalties with Scholes and Rio Ferdinand among the successful takers.

• Arsenal were 2-1 winners the last time they hosted the Premier League titleholders in November. Samir Nasri (22, 48) struck twice for the Gunners before a late reply by Rafael (90).

• The teams that day were:
Arsenal: Manuel Almunia (Łukasz Fabiański 78), Bacary Sagna, William Gallas, Mikaël Silvestre, Gaël Clichy, Theo Walcott (Alexandre Song 77), Cesc Fàbregas, Denilson, Samir Nasri, Abou Diaby (Kolo Touré 86), Nicklas Bendtner.
Manchester United: Edwin van der Sar, Gary Neville (Rafael 63), Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidić, Patrice Evra, Cristiano Ronaldo, Anderson (Ryan Giggs 72), Michael Carrick, Ji-Sung Park, Wayne Rooney (Carlos Tévez 77), Dimitar Berbatov.

• Arsenal also prevailed the last time United travelled to face them in a cup competition – a 4-0 League Cup third-round win in November 2001. Sylvain Wiltord scored a hat-trick that evening, although United defender O'Shea is the sole survivor from that game in either squad.

• United have never won at Arsenal's new stadium, their last success in this fixture a 4-2 victory at Highbury on 1 February 2005. United came from behind twice – and overcame the sending-off of Mikaël Silvestre, now an Arsenal player – to win through goals from Ryan Giggs, Ronaldo (2) and O'Shea.

• Each of the three fixtures between the clubs at Arsenal's new stadium has produced a 90th-minute goal.

• United have never lost a semi-final meeting with Arsenal – including two successes for Sir Alex over Wenger. The clubs' record in semi-final duels is:
FA Cup 2003/04, United W 1-0
FA Cup 1998/99 United D 0-0, W 2-1 (replay, AET)
FA Cup 1982/83 United W 2-1
League Cup 1982/83 United W 4-2 (a), W 2-1 (h)

• Two of United's old guard have scored semi-final winners against Arsenal: Scholes in the FA Cup in 2004, and Ryan Giggs, with a famous extra-time solo effort, in their 1999 FA Cup semi-final replay.

• Arsenal's home record against United is: W55 D17 L24. However, they have not achieved a result that would be enough to take them into the final since a 3-1 league victory in November 2001, eight matches ago.

• Thirty of Arsenal's 55 home wins against United have nevertheless come by a margin that would be enough to win this tie outright, while the Gunners have also recorded six 1-0 victories.

• The teams first came up against each other in London in the old English second division on 30 March 1895, Arsenal running out 3-2 winners.

• Arsenal's biggest win in the fixture is a 5-0 success in the FA Cup in January 1937.

• United's biggest victory away to Arsenal came in November 1990 when they shocked an Arsenal side with the league's best defence with a 6-2 triumph in the League Cup fourth round, Lee Sharpe scoring a hat-trick.

• The highest scoring match between the teams in London was a 5-4 victory for United on 1 February 1958. It was the last game Matt Busby's team played in England before eight of them lost their lives in the Munich air tragedy five days later.

• Arsenal defender Silvestre scored United's goal in the sides' 1-1 draw in the 2003 Community Shield – a contest United won 4-3 on spot-kicks. Silvestre spent nine years at Old Trafford between 1999 and 2008 and collected a clean sweep of domestic medals, playing his part in four Premier League successes as well as victories in the FA Cup and League Cup.

• This semi-final will reunite plenty of current international colleagues as United's Ferdinand, Rooney and Wes Brown come up against Theo Walcott, while Patrice Evra has played alongside the injured William Gallas, Bacary Sagna and Nasri for France. Edwin van der Sar and Van Persie were part of the Netherlands squad at UEFA EURO 2008™.

• A less known international connection is that United midfielder Anderson played alongside Arsenal's Denilson for the Brazil team that finished runners-up at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru in 2005. Another Arsenal player, Carlos Vela, scored the opening goal for winners Mexico in their 3-0 final triumph.

• The winners will advance to a final against Barcelona or Chelsea at Rome's Stadio Olimpico on 27 May.