Sport 30-11-2004 Battle of the Buffet Round II who: Arsenal what: Play Manchester United in Carling Cup where: Old Trafford, MANCHESTER when: Tomorrow night snippet: "Manchester United will serve Arsenal pizza, soup and sandwiches in their dressing-room after tomorrow`s Carling Cup tie," reckons The Mirror, "despite fears of a repeat of the Battle of the Buffet." On a slow day for sports news, the pundits are performing their post mortem on Arsenal`s disappointing form and building up tomorrow night`s game. Manchester is where it all went wrong for the champions - could it be the perfect place to get back on track? Arsène Wenger and co will not have forgotten their last trip to Old Trafford on October 24th when a 49 game unbeaten run in the Premiership was ended by a 2-0 defeat, a three-match ban for Ruud van Nistelrooy, an undignified food fight in the tunnel afterwards and a charge of improper conduct from the FA against Wenger, which will be heard on December 16th. After that incident, there had been talk of a "peace summit" between club chiefs, mediated by the FA, but Manchester United`s chief executive David Gill tells The Sun he`s certain "both clubs will behave and everything will pass off appropriately," which would of course be an enormous disappointment to the papers. According to Freddie Ljungberg, Arsenal`s problem on Sunday - when Liverpool beat them 2-1 at Anfield - is a lack of fighting spirit, or more specifically hesitancy when it comes to tackling their opponents one-on-one. "Liverpool wanted to have a fight and it was a fight, a real battle," says the Swedish international, quoted in The Guardian. "We talked about it at half-time and we were not pleased about how we`d played in that first half at all." [... more]

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