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A day at Old Trafford with Club Level seats and pre-match dining.
Manchester
11°
Rain showers
Our best tips
Manchester in October averages 8–14°C. Rain is common (roughly 22 days of the month), so a waterproof layer is essential, not optional.
Smart casual is the standard in Premier League hospitality suites. Think collared shirts and smart trousers rather than replica kits. Most venues will turn away guests in sportswear or football shirts.
Arrive at Old Trafford at least two hours before kick-off to enjoy the full pre-match hospitality. Bring a valid photo ID, as most Premier League venues require one for entry.
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F1, Wimbledon, Royal Ascot, the Six Nations, Glastonbury. If it sells out in minutes, we have people on the door.
Getting around
Old Trafford tram stop on the Altrincham line is a few minutes' walk from the ground. Trams run frequently from Manchester city centre and Piccadilly.
Taxis and ride-hailing services are readily available. On match days, expect some road closures around Sir Matt Busby Way, so allow extra time.
Manchester United Football Ground station (on the Liverpool-Manchester line) is right beside the stadium. Trains run from Manchester Piccadilly and Oxford Road.
Manchester United versus Arsenal is English football's defining modern rivalry. First contested in 1894 when Newton Heath drew 3–3 with Woolwich Arsenal in the Second Division, the fixture has since produced FA Cup finals, title deciders, tunnel confrontations, and some of the most watched matches in Premier League history. At Old Trafford, the atmosphere carries an edge that few other domestic fixtures can match.
Everyone thinks they have the prettiest wife at home.
They are the only team that can stop us winning the league.
Neither club had a clue they were striking the first match of football's fiercest rivalry.
On 13 October 1894, Newton Heath (the club that would become Manchester United in 1902) hosted Woolwich Arsenal in a Second Division fixture at Bank Street, Clayton. The match ended 3–3. Neither side could have known they were laying the first stone of what would become English football's most intense rivalry.
Seven goals at Highbury in 1948; post-war football had found its appetite.
Both clubs emerged from the Second World War as major forces. The 1948 Charity Shield saw Manchester United defeat Arsenal 4–3 at Highbury in a match that captured the post-war public's appetite for attacking football. Matt Busby's United and Tom Whittaker's Arsenal were the two dominant sides of the late 1940s and early 1950s, trading league titles and establishing the fixture as one of the calendar's marquee occasions.
United were level with five minutes gone, celebrations already under way; Sunderland had other ideas.
The 1979 FA Cup final remains one of the greatest Wembley occasions. Arsenal led 2–0 with five minutes remaining. Gordon McQueen and Sammy McIlroy scored to level it at 2–2, and United's fans were already celebrating. Then Alan Sunderland slid in at the far post to make it 3–2 in the final minute. The match is still spoken of as the moment the rivalry acquired its modern, dramatic character.
Twelve points adrift in February; champions by May. Wenger had Ferguson's measure from the start.
Arsène Wenger's appointment as Arsenal manager in September 1996 transformed the fixture from a significant match into a personal, tactical, and philosophical war. Wenger's continental methods clashed directly with Alex Ferguson's approach. Arsenal won the Double in 1997/98, overhauling United's 12-point lead, and the two managers' mutual suspicion hardened into something that would define a decade of English football.
Giggs dribbled past four defenders and celebrated by tearing off his shirt; Arsenal were left to wonder what might have been.
The 1999 FA Cup semi-final replay at Villa Park is the single match most associated with this rivalry. With the score at 1–1 in extra time, Peter Schmeichel saved Dennis Bergkamp's penalty. Then Ryan Giggs collected the ball in his own half, dribbled past four Arsenal defenders, and smashed the ball into the roof of the net. He celebrated by whipping off his shirt and swinging it above his head. United went on to win the Treble. Arsenal were left wondering what might have been.
A crossbar, a leap, and four bans; Van Nistelrooy never even scored.
On 21 September 2003, the fixture reached boiling point. Ruud van Nistelrooy struck the crossbar with a last-minute penalty, and Arsenal players surrounded him at the final whistle. Martin Keown leapt at Van Nistelrooy in celebration, and the FA handed out fines and bans to four Arsenal players. The match finished 0–0, but the images of the confrontation became defining photographs of the Premier League era.
Forty-nine matches unbeaten, ended in ninety minutes; the tunnel afterwards was considerably messier than the scoreline.
On 24 October 2004, Manchester United beat Arsenal 2–0 at Old Trafford to end the Gunners' record 49-match unbeaten Premier League run. Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney scored the goals. Arsenal were furious, and the aftermath included the infamous 'Pizzagate' incident in the tunnel, where food was reportedly thrown at Sir Alex Ferguson. The result confirmed Old Trafford as the place where Arsenal's invincibility came to die.
Vieira saved his finest moment for last, stepping up to settle a Cardiff final he would never play another match after.
The 2005 FA Cup final was the last match at the old Wembley's temporary replacement in Cardiff. Arsenal and United played out a tense, attritional 0–0 draw before the Gunners won 5–4 on penalties. It was Patrick Vieira's final act as an Arsenal player, converting the decisive spot kick. The match lacked the drama of 1979, but it carried the weight of a rivalry at its absolute peak.
Eight goals in a single match; the day Old Trafford rewrote the terms of England's greatest rivalry.
On 28 August 2011, Manchester United beat Arsenal 8–2 at Old Trafford, the most lopsided result in the fixture's history. Wayne Rooney scored a hat-trick and Ashley Young added two. Arsenal, weakened by the departures of Cesc Fàbregas and Samir Nasri, were in disarray. The scoreline marked a shift in the rivalry's balance of power; Arsenal would not win the league again until the 2020s.
More than 230 meetings deep, and this fixture still refuses to grow old.
Over 130 years since Newton Heath and Woolwich Arsenal first met, the fixture retains its capacity to produce drama. Arsenal's resurgence under Mikel Arteta has restored competitive edge to a rivalry that drifted during the 2010s. At Old Trafford, the Stretford End still generates an atmosphere that visiting sides find uniquely hostile. With over 230 meetings played, Manchester United versus Arsenal remains the Premier League's most storied fixture.
