36 mins: An excellent run from Amad, but when he gets to the edge of the area he goes down – Partey was down so early, way before Amad actually got to him, that the United player trod on him and lost his footing. He stays down, holding his knee.

33 mins: A better spell for United. Arsenal seem to be defending them pretty comfortably, but they have at least had the ball a bit.

31 mins: It’s not been a great opening half-hour for the home side, but Amad Diallo has looked handy whenever he’s got the ball.

29 mins: It’s gone back to the game of the first few minutes, with Arsenal imperious. White bursts into the penalty area and hammers a shot from a wildly acute angle not too far from the far top corner, but far enough.

27 mins: Saka tries to hold off Dalot, who grabs his waistband and hauls him down. Free kick.

24 mins: Arsenal slice and dice the United defence again, but White’s cross from the byline, with three yellow shirts to aim for, is poor, and drifts out of play.

22 mins: Casemiro has taken a lot of criticism this week, and I don’t want to join in the pile-on, but for 60 seconds or so there he could have played no differently had he actively wanted to assist Arsenal. “For a quick summary of how far Man Utd have fallen you only need to look at the two benches,” writes Richard Hirst. “A fair number of the Arsenal bench would get in the United first XI; the other way round … maybe not.” The United bench does make grisly reading, for sure.

GOAL! Manchester United 0-1 Arsenal (Trossard, 20 mins)

17 mins: United give the ball away twice in their own half, worryingly.

14 mins: Now Dalot goes on a long diagonal run, and wins a corner at the end of it. It’s headed clear.

13 mins: United started the game poorly, but the last 10 minutes or so have been really encouraging. They might not humiliate themselves here.

10 mins: Rice’s backpass is weak, and the crowd roars as Raya momentarily decides not to come for it. But then the keeper has second thoughts, hares out and boots it downfield.

9 mins: So far Arsenal have completely dominated four minutes, and United another four. Perhaps another shift now, as Saka is played down the right and wins a corner.

7 mins: United stay on the front foot. Garnacho has a couple of shots and both are deflected, the first back to a teammate for the move to continue, the second wide of goal.

5 mins: And suddenly United get a chance! Csaemiro’s through-ball doesn’t quite reach Hojland but as Arsenal try to pass it out of defence McTominay turns up to steal it and it runs back to Hojland, who has a free shot from the edge of the area. He completely fluffs it.

4 mins: The first shot of the day comes from Saka, but is straight at Onana. The ball has barely left the quarter of the pitch closest to United’s goal.

2 mins: A great first minute from Arsenal, which ends with them winning a corner but only because Trossard didn’t anticipate Saka’s cross and get there first.

1 min: Peeeeeep! Arsnel, in luminous yellow kit, kick off.

They’re out, hands have been shaken and preambles completed. A quick huddle – Arsenal are conducting theirs in an unusual location, just to the left of their penalty area – and it’s game on.

The players gather in the tunnel. Football imminent!

“Good morning from Pittsburgh!” writes Eric Peterson. Hello! “I’d be much more concerned about Arsenal’s poor form at Old Trafford if I hadn’t spent all of April seeing Manchester United drive their home fans crazy. Trying and failing to spoon-feed a win to Liverpool, trailing (twice!) against Sheffield United, playing so poorly against Burnley that the 1-1 result can fairly be called an affront to Burnley, not Man U. I expect the Gunners to take decisive steps to address that shrinking goal difference between them and Manchester City.” That is the only sensible conclusion to be drawn from the teams’ recent performances. Football, happily, is still occasionally insensible, though.

Quarter of an hour before kick-off. The pitch empties of players as the players of both sides head in to receive their final instructions.

Talking of Manchester United and FA Cup finals: “45 years ago today (the day I was born), these two teams met in the ‘five-minute final’,” writes Graeme Thorn. “Arsenal will definitely need the same sort of result today, but maybe without all the stress of those last five minutes.”

Further reading:

Silverware ahoy! It’s now 2-0 in that game and with that United should be home and hosed. I saw Tottenham in their semi-final and they were absolutely rubbish, if not quite as rubbish as Leicester, though I am led to believe this was an anomaly.

Manchester United are currently competing in the women’s FA Cup final against Tottenham at Wembley, and have scored an absolute screamer to take the lead:

Mikel Arteta has a chat:

It’s always a big challenge [to win here]. A great place to come. We’re obviously playing for something massive and we need to prove that we can come to this stadium and deliver. They have a lot of individual quality and they can turn momentum in any action, and that’s a big quality to have. Today we have to earn the right to go into the last day with the option to win the Premier League. That’s the challenge, but the opportunity is huge. But to be favourites here you have to earn the right over many, many years – we haven’t done that.

The teams!

Preamble