As far as the Premier League goes, there has not been a more intense rivalry than the one shared between Arsenal and Manchester United from the late 1990s through to the late 2000s.

Not only were these two teams consistently battling it out for England's main prizes, there was a deep-rooted hatred among many of the players, while the two managers were by no means friends.

It meant that when the rivals went head to head, more often than not, it was an encounter to remember.

Yet, for all of the moments of brilliance in a catalogue of classic games, arguably the most memorable of them all came a decade ago today at Highbury.

Chelsea, bankrolled by Roman Abramovich's billions and with Jose Mourinho at the helm, were running away with the title, but that did little to dampen the importance of this contest in North London.

The intensity of the encounter was often epitomised by the battle in midfield between the two captains - Patrick Vieira of Arsenal and United's Roy Keane.

However, while their battles on the pitch over the years were well documented, this one actually started in the Highbury tunnel. Keane, who accused his opposite number of picking on United full-back Gary Neville, had to be remonstrated by a combination of his teammates and referee Graham Poll.

Writing in his recently released autobiography The Second Half, Keane recalled: "As I walked to the front I heard something going on at the top of the tunnel. All I could see was a few fingers, pointing at Gary. I lost it. Five seconds earlier I'd been perfectly calm, in the zone, ready for the match.

"I'd thought they might have booted him out on the pitch. But in the tunnel? I just thought 'the fuckers'. They were trying to bully him. They were a big team and, in the tunnel, they were even bigger."

It set the tone for the 90 minutes ahead as the Gunners twice took the lead during the first half through Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp, only to be pegged on both occasions by Ryan Giggs's deflected effort and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo then made it 3-2 to United after Giggs had rounded Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia, but there was still plenty more drama to come.

Visiting defender Mikael Silvestre was handed his marching orders 21 minutes from time for planting a headbutt on Freddie Ljunberg, which sparked a brawl between the two sets of players.

Surprisingly, though, the final say would go to United substitute John O'Shea, who collected a first-time pass from Paul Scholes before lifting his effort over an onrushing Almunia and into the far corner of the net.

After the final whistle, a delighted Sir Alex Ferguson said: "Having gone behind twice, it shows the measure of our character.

"We had the mental strength and on the night we were fantastic in terms of character and will to win, and we played some fantastic football."

Meanwhile, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger added: "We were poor overall defensively. The first, second and third goals were bad ones to give away and not the kind of thing we did last season.

"Mentally, we never recovered from the third one. You could see the confidence of the players start to fade and in the end Manchester United got themselves quite a comfortable victory."

ARSENAL: Almunia; Lauren [Fabregas], Campbell [Hoyte], Cygan, Cole; Ljungberg, Flamini [Reyes], Vieira, Pires; Bergkamp, Henry

MAN UNITED: Carroll; G Neville, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Heinze; Fletcher [O'Shea], Keane, Scholes, Ronaldo [Brown], Giggs [Saha]; Rooney