United boss Sir Alex Ferguson will have been frustrated by his side's wastefulness, with Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo guilty of throwing away obvious openings.

It was United who had the first opportunity when Arsenal keeper Almunia inexplicably picked up a backpass from Mikael Silvestre inside the first two minutes. Arsenal were relieved when Anderson's free-kick was half-cleared and Michael Carrick turned the loose ball wide.

Rooney missed an even better chance for United after 17 minutes, carelessly lofting an inviting ball from Ronaldo over the top when it seemed certain he would score.

Arsenal took full advantage of the reprieve to take the lead five minutes later, when Nasri's shot took a crucial deflection off Neville and wrong-footed Edwin van der Sar. It was a wonderfully open game but Arsenal were playing like a team stung by recent criticism and the sight of old rivals United had only inspired them further.

Fabregas had a shot deflected just wide but United were threatening themselves and Almunia needed to save well from Ji-Sung Park.

If there was a frustration for Arsenal, it would have been that the crucial second goal had eluded them, despite their dominance. They did not have to wait long to get it as Nasri doubled their advantage three minutes after the restart. Fabregas was at the centre of affairs again, punishing United for failing to pick up Nasri when he threaded through a perfect pass for the France midfield man to beat Van der Sar with an emphatic finish.

United, uncharacteristically, were lacking a cutting edge and wasted a perfect opportunity to grasp at a lifeline immediately after Arsenal's goal. Park found Ronaldo unmarked at the far post but he dragged his shot across the face of goal with only Almunia to beat.

Almunia then required lengthy treatment after an accidental clash with Carrick as United refused to give up on the belief that they could get back into an enthralling encounter. He carried on but was clearly in discomfort and was replaced by Lukasz Fabianski with 12 minutes left.

United also replaced Rooney with Carlos Tevez and Anderson with Ryan Giggs in what was clearly a last throw of the dice by Ferguson as time ran out. Rafael, who had replaced Neville in the 63rd minute, pulled one back in the final minute with a spectacular left-foot volley from the edge of the box after Arsenal failed to clear a Giggs cross.

Sir Alex Ferguson is confident Rio Ferdinand will see out the prime of his career at Manchester United and says he could well make captain in the near future.

The defender, who was recently named in the FIFPro team of the year, has been at the heart of United's defence since signing for the club from Leeds for £29.1million fee in the summer of 2002.

Ferguson believes his star player will continue his career with the Red Devils after more than six successful years with the club. "Rio's best years are in front of him," said Ferguson. "He is easily going to play for the next five years. He looks after himself and he is very fit so I would expect him to be here for that length of time."

"Rio has leadership qualities and we are really starting to see maturity in his game," said Ferguson. "We always knew that he was good at taking the ball out of defence because he has such wonderful balance and great pace. Now we are seeing more edge to his game and more of a contribution in terms of being voluble towards his team-mates. He is much better at that.

Ronaldo might be benched against Celtic as Carlos Tevez and Anderson are back in contention after missing Saturday's 4-0 win over West Bromwich Albion.

Paul Scholes, Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick miss out of course and they are joined in the stands by Patrice Evra who was taken off with a hamstring injury against West Brom and won't be risked tomorrow night.

He should be OK for Saturday,' Fergie said, referring to Saturday's trip to Goodison Park. The manager also confirmed that he was considering relegating Ronaldo to the bench as he's still not at full fitness and has played a lot of games in recent weeks.

If he won't start then Nani is likely to take his place in the side. Anderson and Carlos Tevez are likely to be handed starts after missing Saturday's win because they arrived back very late from international duty.

Stand-in captain Rio Ferdinand believes England will be halfway to the World Cup if they can defeat Belarus on Wednesday.

The Manchester United star told the Daily Express: "If we can win in Belarus, then it will feel like we're halfway there because we've got a long way to go until the next game after this one.

"If we can get four wins out of four we'll be very pleased and be in a very commanding position."

Midfielder Frank Lampard has vowed England will not rest on their laurels after their 100 per cent start and is eager to make it four wins from four.

The Chelsea ace was part of a three-man midfield with Gareth Barry and Steven Gerrard on Saturday, but Capello may switch to a 4-4-2 formation away from home.

Lampard said: "We are determined to get the job done and earn maximum points."

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Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand said he was happy with his side’s evening’s work after they defeated Aalborg BK 3-0 in the Champions League.

Ferdinand stated that paying their opponents a lot of respect was the key to securing victory.

“It is a good result, we paid them a lot of respect after seeing their result against Celtic, where they got a good point,” the England international said to ITV Sport.

“We knew it would be tough as they are well organised so we knew we would have to pass the ball well and take our chances when they came,” added Ferdinand.

“It was good today that Berba got two goals to get off the mark and hopefully we can go full steam ahead now into the rest of the season.”

Ferdinand was also positive on the injury concern sparked by Wayne Rooney’s exit from the field in the second half. The centre-back thinks he was just taken off as a precaution.

“I spoke to him and I think it is just precautionary because we have some big games coming up and we wanted to make sure he didn’t hurt it any more,” he stated.

“So hopefully it is not too bad – the way he walked off made conclude that it didn’t look too serious.”

Rio Ferdinand will escape disciplinary action following his tantrum at the end of Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea, despite gesturing and shouting angrily as he stormed into the tunnel.

The England defender, who had already been booked for dissent, appeared unhappy with the performance of referee Mike Riley as he left the pitch following a challenge with Didier Drogba.

However, Riley has not informed the FA of any “extraordinary events”, meaning that United’s automatic £25,000 fine for their seven bookings is likely to be the only official sanction to arise from a stormy match.

Sir Alex Ferguson, who marched on to the pitch to calm his players, was adamant that there were no bad tackles, while goal scorer Ji-Sung Park felt that United had been harshly treated by Riley.

Sir Alex Ferguson has backed his Manchester United side to bounce back from their Premier League defeat at Liverpool.

The Red Devils only have a few days to lick their wounds following the Anfield reverse before they begin the defence of their UEFA Champions League crown. Villarreal are the visitors to Old Trafford on Wednesday night in the first match of a group phase which also features Celtic and Danish side Aalborg.

The Scot laid into his players in the wake of their weekend setback, when defensive blunders handed Liverpool both of their goals in a 2-1 triumph for Rafa Benitez's men.

But Ferguson expects his team will have already moved on by Wednesday night and has already set his sights on qualifying for the knockout phase.

"You have to recover, that's the name of the game," Ferguson said.

"It's the Champions League and I think we are in a good group and I think we have a good chance of qualifying. The way I look at the Champions League is to get to 10 points. If you get that you know you have qualified and you can look forward to February when it really starts to kick in."

Rio Ferdinand is travelling to Croatia with the rest of the England squad. Ferdinand missed Saturday's opening World Cup qualifier with Andorra because of a neck injury.

Coach Fabio Capello stated last week that the Manchester United stopper would be fit for the trip to Zagreb and that appears to be the case.

After being put through his paces by England's medical team, he trained with the rest of the squad at their Spanish base ahead of their departure for the Croatian capital.

Now Ferdinand has been confirmed in the party that will travel, meaning it is highly likely he will return to the side to partner captain John Terry at the heart of the defence.

England's preparations for the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign were descending into chaos last night when it emerged that Rio Ferdinand could miss the games against Andorra and Croatia.

The Manchester United defender has been struggling with a back injury that is sure to rule him out of this evening's game here.

But Fabio Capello now fears he may have lost Ferdinand for the far more daunting match against Croatia in Zagreb on Wednesday, leaving him looking at Matthew Upson or Joleon Lescott.

The manager has already lost Steven Gerrard, Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick to injury and concerns remain about the fitness of Joe Cole.