So, one to forget. Hats off to Wojciech Szczesny and David De Gea, the two goalkeepers who pulled off a brace of smart saves each to keep their teams in the game late doors. It’ll be interesting to hear what kind of spin David Moyes and Arsene Wenger put on te respective performances of their teams in their post match press conferences. Be sure to tune into Guardian Football to find out. Thanks for your time and your emails - and if you’re out and about in the UK, Ireland or anywhere else where the weather is apocalyptic, have a safe journey home.

Peep! Peep! Peeeeeep! It’s all over, with Ashley Young’s booking proving the highlight of added time; I’m afraid I didn’t spot his indiscretion. It was a woeful game of football, that picked up in the final 25 minutes. Both teams will think they could have won and both will be delighted they didn’t lose.

90 min: Ozil’s free-kick was fairly rubbish - he failed to clear the defensive wall. Moments later, Santi Cazorla brought another good save out of David De Gea with a long-range effort that bounced just in front of the goalkeeper as he dived to his left to save.

90 min: No.

89 min: Patrice Evra fouls Santi Cazorla a couple of yards in front of the Manchester United penalty area, a bit right of centre. This is quite an opportunity for Mesut Ozil, who’s standing over the ball with a Manchester United wall in front of him. Can he score? Can he?

88 min: Arsenal press forward, with Mesut Ozil crossing into the Manchester United penalty area from the left touchline. Olivier Giroud leaps to chest the ball down to the edge of the six-yard box, but there’s nobody in an Arsenal shirt on hand to sweep it goalwards.

87 min: Bacary Sagna takes one for the team, picking up a yellow card after fouling Wayne Rooney on the halfway line when the Manchester United was setting off on a counter-attack.

86 min: Ooh, replays show that was a good save. A one-handed parry that a more rubber-wristed goalkeeper might have let past him.

84 min: Another excellent save, this time by David De Gea. He dives low to his left to keep out a low drive from Santi Cazorla that looked to be heading for the bottom right-hand corner.

83 min: *Sounds the Liverpool being beaten by Fulham klaxon*

81 min: Manchester United substitution: Antonio Valencia off Ashley Young on. It’s a like for like substitution: one frustrating and hopelessly unpredictable winger for another.

78 min: The best passage of the game thus far. Michael Carrick wins the ball in midfield, plays a through ball to RVP, who immediately flips it wide to Wayne Rooney and sprints down the centre towards goal. Wayne Rooney’s cross from the right is exquisite, but the Dutchman’s bullet header is pushed on to the cross-bar courtesy of a splendid reflex save from Wojciech Szczesny. That’s more like it.

76 min: Bacary Sagna gets one of those delightfully penetrative crosses he’s sometimes quite good at sending into the mixer to bounce across the corridor of uncertainty between David De Gea and his defenders. Having given Nemanja Vidic the slip once again, Olivier Giroud sticks out a toe and somehow contrives to not score with the goal gaping.

75 min: Wojciech Szczesny passes the ball shorrt to Per Mertesacker. Per Mertesacker turns around and passes the ball back to Wojciech Szczesny.

74 min: Arsenal substitution: Tomas Rosicky off, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain on. Manchester United substitution: Juan Mata off, Adnan Januzaj on.

72 min: Antonio Valencia gets the first yellow card of the night for barging Jack Wilshere. Arsenal win a free-kick halfway inside the Manchester United half, but nothing comes of it.

Not a push in the back: Repeat, not a push in the back. No penalty here ...

69 min: From the right flank, Bacary Sagna crosses to the near post for Olivier Giroud. For once, Nemanja Vidic gets in front of him to clear.

65 min: At long last, the defibrillator paddles have been applied and this match has been electro-shocked into something resembling life. Now Manchester United go close, with Wojciech Szczesny being forced off his line and to the edge of his penalty area to head downfield in order to prevent RVP getting to a delivery from Antonio Valencia.

62 min: Arsenal go close again. The ball’s curled in from the left towards Olivier Giroud on the near post. He ducks to head it goalwards, but goes to ground after being shoved in the back by Nemanja Vidic. His appeals for a penalty fall on deaf ears. On BT Sport, match analyst Michael Owen studies the replay, acknowledges the shove in the back and says that not giving the penalty was the correct decision. Eh?

61 min: Woof! Arsenal go close to breaking the deadlock from a corner. The ball’s pinged in from the right and from about eight yards out, Laurent Koscielny steers a bullet header towards the top left-hand corner. Alert on the line, Antonio Valencia heads it clear.

60 min: “Every attack a cul de sac at the moment, it seems,” says commentator Ian Darke on BT Sport. Y’see, it’s not just me.

59 min: Mesut Ozil picks up the ball on the left flank, turns around and runs seven or eight yards backwards. He rifles a low pass back up the touchline and the ball goes out for a throw-in off Santi Cazorla, under pressure from Patrice Evra.

57 min: Nothing is happening. Well, obviously some things are happening, but nothing noteworthy. Lots of thoroughly unremarkable faffing in the middle third from both teams. Still, at least Manchester United have lots of Twitter followers and Arsenal weren’t 4-0 down after 20 minutes.

54 min: Arsenal advance into Manchester United‘s half, with Santi Cazorla picking out Tomas Rosicky down the inside right. Giroud gets involved, Arsenal engage in another bout of excessively intricate over-elaboration on the edge of the penalty area and gift possession back to Manchester United.

52 min: Manchester United win a corner after good, persistent grunt work from Patrice Evra, who forces Bacary Sagna to put the ball out of play. Nothing comes of it. Of course nothing comes of it.

50 min: Midfield is ridiculously congested. Juan Mata decides it’s too congested and tries to escape, going on a gallop towards the Arsenal penalty area before playing the ball wide to Robin van Persie. He runs down a blind alley, gets crowded off the ball and Manchester United clear. This is dreadful.

There is nothing in this world Jonathan Wilson likes more than free grub.

48 min: Rio Ferdinand hoofs the ball towards Robin van Persie in the Arsenal penalty area, but the Dutchman ends up sprawling on the floor as United clear their lines.

46 min: Manchester United win a free-kick wide on the right, on the edge of the final third in the Arsenal half. Juan Mata curls the ball into the penalty area, where Michael Carrick gets a flick-on to the far post. There’s nobody stealing in there to head home.

Second half: Arsenal kick off. In the Manchester United ranks, Rafael has been replaced at half-time. Rio Ferdinand has come on and slotted into central defence, with Chris Smalling moving out to right-back.

Half-time: The sides go in for their half-time brew with the scoreboard operator having had a stress-free evening. It’s been a very scrappy opening period, in which both teams should have scored at least once each but neither could muster a goal.

Both teams have looked nervous, which is probably unsurprising considering their traumas of last weekend, but you get the feeling that, much like Cardiff’s match against Villa last night, if one of them could just stop being so cautious and grab the game by the scruff of the neck, it wouldn’t take much winning.

Manchester United fans will be concerned by how staggeringly mediocre and meek their team has been this evening. Arsenal fans won’t be too impressed either - they’ve been more industrious than United but have lacked cutting edge. On the whole, this match has been fairly dire ... unless you’re one of those pseuds from Below The Line who pretends to find rubbish 0-0 draws entertaining because you think it makes you look clever.

45+1 min: Having conceded several frees and been nipping in Mark Clattenburg’s ear all night, Wayne Rooney gets his second telling-off of the evening from the referee. Clattenburg must have the patience of a saint, because you’d expect most refs to have got the yellow card out by now.

45 min: Arsenal corner. Santi Cazorla tries to send an outswinger to the other side of the penalty area, but overhits it. Olivier Giroud leaps, but wouldn’t have got his head to the ball if he was 10 feet tall.

43 min: Manchester United win a corner, courtesy of Kieran Gibbs. Robin van Persies sends it in from the right, but his delivery is atrocious. Arsenal clear.

42 min: Olivier Giroud concedes a free-kick in the centre-circle after fouling Chris Smalling. Wayne Rooney takes it quickly and plays the ball wide to Rafael on the right flank. He gives it inside to Valencia, goes on the overlap and picks up the return pass, only to overhit his cross and send the ball out of play at the far touchline.

40 min: Good news - Rafael is back on his feet, but looking a bit groggy. On the Manchester United bench, Ryan Giggs and David Moyes are deep in conversation, while Rio Ferdinand warms up. He won’t be needed, for now at least - Rafael is fit to continue.

38 min: Olivier Giroud and Rafael go down injured after an aeriel coming-together. They were contesting a high ball and Rafael jumped highest, before landing awkwardly on his neck. I bet David Moyes won’t have any problem with Mark Clattenburg stopping play so the Manchester United player can get treatment. Hopefully he’s OK. Giroud is on his feet, but he didn’t land anywhere near as badly.

35 min: There’s a pause in play as Kieran Gibbs goes down clutching his head. David Moyes is unhappy, as it meant Mark Clattenburg had to put a stop to another of Manchester United’s decidedly insipid counter-attacks.

33 min: Mesut Ozil goes a cantering down the left flank and tries to play the ball in to Olivier Giroud who’d made a run into the penalty area. Nemanja Vidic intercepts and clears. It’s not quite happening for Arsenal here. They’ve been undeniably superior against Manchester United, who have been noticably meek. It’s like their tactic this week is to ”defend as best we can and hope Arsenal make a mistake”.

29 min: On the counter-attack, Mesut Ozil gallops down the right touchline with the ball at his feet, plays it short inside to Olivier Giroud and ... slows to a barely perceptible jog. “My work here is done,” he appears to decide. Bereft of options, Giroud is crowded off the ball, which finds its way back to De Gea.

28 min: Wayne Rooney loses possession on the edge of his own penalty area, letting Mikel Arteta rob him of the ball. Arteta plays it short to Giroud, who shoots high and wide from the edge of the penalty area.

26 min: Manchester United corner. Wayne Rooney plays it shortish to Juan Mata on the left-hand side of the penalty. Jack Wilshere relieves him of possession and is fouled as he attempts to run the ball out of defence. Free-kick for Arsenal.

24 min: Arsenal win another corner and Giroiud gives Vidic the slip once again. This opportunity isn’t as clear-cut as the last one and, slightly off balance, he heads off target ... again.

21 min: Well, they half-clear. The ball breaks to Rosicky on the hinterland of the penalty area and he attempts to stand it up for Olivier Giroud on the edge of the six-yard box. His pass is too weighty and De Gea claims.

21 min: Arsenal advance again. In an advanced position, Kieran Gibbs plays a short pass to Jack Wilshere, whose first touch is awful on this occasion. He gifts possession to United, who clear.

18 min: Galloping down the inside left, Robin van Persie latches on to a delightful through ball. He looks up, cuts inside and with a couple of options available to him, shoots horribly wide of the far post with a low diagonal effort. Far be it from me to tell RVP how to play football, but I think it’s fair to say he should have crossed for Wayne Rooney.

17 min: Arsenal advance on the Manchester United penalty area. Olivier Giroud has the ball but is robbed of possession and it ends up back with De Gea.

15 min: Tom Cleverley picks up the ball in midfield and plays it short to Chris Smalling. Yes, it’s that exciting at the moment. We’re in the midst of what is technically known as a lull.

11 min: Good work from Rafael, who gallops down the right and puts in a near post cross for Robin van Persie. He tries to back-heel the ball goalwards. Per Mertesacker intervenes with an agricultural hoof. Arsenal have had the better of the opening 10 minutes, in which both teams should have scored.

10 min: Rosicky tries his luck with a long-range effort. His luck is out. It was off-target, hit the back of Vidic, looped up in the air and forced a save out of De Gea, who had to dive to his left and prevent the ballfrom going in the bottom corner.

7 min: Throw-in for Arsenal, deep in United territory on the right-hand side. Bacary Sagna takes it. He chucks the ball towards Ozil, who gives it away.

5 min: Arsenal win a free-kick wide on the right, a long way out from the Manchester United goal. Mesut Ozil floats the ball towards the far post towards Cazorla, but the Spaniard’s control is poor. Manchester United clear. In the build-up to the corner from which Giroud should have scored, Jack Wilshere had ghosted into the Manchester United penalty area after picking up the ball from Ozil. He fired goalwards, but had to settle for a corner.

4 min: Unmarked at a corner after giving Nemanja Vidic the slip, Olivier Giroud plants a meaty header wide of the left upright. He should have scored. Vidic appeals for a free-kick for a push in the back, but none was forthcoming.

2 min: A let-off for Arsenal, as Mikel Arteta is caught napping and gifts possession to Robin van Persie. Clean through on goal, the Dutchman shoots low and hard, but not hard enough. Szczesny saves.

1 min: Manchester United kick off, needing a win to keep their fading hopes of securing a Champions League qualification berth from being extinguished. The ball’s played wide to Patrice Evra, who hoofs it forward in a bid to get Robin van Persie in behind Per Mertesacker. Wojciech Szczesny claims.

The teams are in the tunnel. Arsenal’s players wear their usual home kit of red shirts with white sleeves, white shorts and white socks. Manchester United’s players wear their navy blue/black skintight shirts, with similarly coloured shorts and socks.

I can see the jets of water being sprayed in the background behind BT Sport presenter Jake Humphry and his henchmen David O’Leary and Owen Hargreaves. I wouldn’t have thought that necessary after today’s deluge, but presumably the groundsman knows what he’s doing.

The players are limbering up at the Emirates ...

“We had a world class number 10 in Shinji Kagawa and Moyes/Ferguson ruined his United career by playing him on the left wing,” harrumphs Matthew Wilshaw. “We’ve now bought another in Mata and Moyes is playing him on the wing. Clueless.” If I was you, Matthew, I’d just be grateful that David Moyes didn’t buy Steven Naismith from Everton upon deciding he needed a right winger. Perhaps next season ...

We’ve spotted a picture of him on the photo wires.

Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Arteta, Wilshere, Rosicky, Ozil, Cazorla, Giroud.

Subs: Podolski, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Monreal, Fabianski, Sanogo, Bendtner, Jenkinson.

Man Utd: De Gea, Da Silva, Smalling, Vidic, Evra, Carrick, Cleverley, Valencia, Rooney, Mata, van Persie.

Subs: Ferdinand, Lindegaard, Hernandez, Young, Buttner, Fellaini, Januzaj.

Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear)

De Gea, Rafael, Smalling, Vidic, Evra, Valencia, Cleverley, Carrick, Mata, Rooney, Van Persie

Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Arteta, Wilshere, Rosicky, Ozil, Cazorla, Giroud.

Manchester City’s match with Sunderland has been postponed, Greater Manchester Police have confirmed. The match has fallen victim to the severe weather which has battered the north west.

It’s been a horrible day in London with high winds and torrential rain earlier this afternoon - not least when I was walking home from a pal’s house after dropping off a present for his new baby and got soaked to the skin and almost lifted off the ground by the elements. The wind’s still up here in north London, types minute-by-minute reporter from Kings Cross bunker, but at least it’s stopped raining.

Manchester United may be seventh in the Premier League table and nine points off the fourth spot that would guarantee them a tilt at qualification for next season’s Champions League, but that’s OK, says their executive vice chairman Ed “The Equaliser” Woodward, because failure to qualify for Big Cup for a “prolonged period” won’t necessarily have an adverse affect on commercial and financial strategy and besides ... they’ve got lots of followers on Twitter.

“In a conference call with investors to discuss United’s quarterly results,” writes Jamie Jackson, our man on the Manchester beat. “Woodward stressed the club’s digital strategy, citing how Juan Mata’s £37.1m arrival last month increased the champions’ Twitter followers by 288,000 – “14-fold” – and on Facebook “four-fold”. To read more about what Mr Woodward had to say (warning: may cause drowsiness), click on this link.

Having provided no end of amusement for the many fans of lesser clubs the length and breadth of the UK for whom football-induced misery is the rule rather than the exception, Arsenal and Manchester United regroup at the Emirates with both teams bidding to put respective recent horror shows behind them.

It is difficult to know which of these sides suffered the more embarrassing result last weekend: despite taking a point, it could be argued that Manchester United’s failure to beat Premier League basement-dwellers Fulham was even more remarkable than Arsenal’s slaughter at the hands of Liverpool, if only because it was the latest klaxon call signalling sharp vicissitudes in fortune for the Premier League champions that few but the most pessimistic of their fans could have foreseen.

Only time will tell whether Arsenal’s astonishing capitulation was a one-off aberration or the beginning of the end of a title-tilt many expected to come off the rails long before now.

“It is an accident, not a welcome one of course, a very disappointing one, but a successful season is decided by how you respond to that,” said Wenger yesterday, having had time to reflect on Saturday’s defeat. “In any season you have disappointments, it is always down to the team to respond in a very positive way, that decides the success of the team.”

Increasingly coming to resemble the subject of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch’s iconic painting The Scream, David Moyes can’t have been looking forward to his pre-match press conference yesterday and was tetchy in the face of interrogatory projectiles about his side’s latest shocker: Sunday’s draw against Fulham.

“Yeah, well, I thought only one team came to win,” Moyes told reporters in a briefing that started badly and went quickly downhill. “But you [media] watched it, so it was probably a game for you to write how badly Manchester United had done, rather than what the opposition played like.” Miaow.