It's the physical side of English football, mayb it doesn't look
pretty but it's sure effective, jus ask Sam Alladynce of Bolton n
Ian Dowie of Crystal Palace. Ur comment on Man U is fair, perhaps
they did went overboard, but Arsenal has shown that they wasn't
able 2 cope with the hardball tactics that Man U 1st employ, at
least the young players like Reyes n Fabregas. That's why a lot of
teams started using blanket defence n close down the spaces to
choke the creative players Arsenal have.
One thing that Man U n Arsenal lacks currently is a settled defence
like that of Chelsea. That's a pre-requsite of Championship winning
team. Look at the goal against column of all 3 teams n u get the
picture.
The 2nd point is Man U is going through a goal drought 4 all it's
strikers except Van Nisterooy n the midfield is also not
contributing. At least teams don't play defensive against Man U
since it's defence can b dodgy at times. 
Arsenal faced a complete different set of problems as compared 2
Man U. Teams tends 2 clamp up when playing Arsenal as seen by
Crystal Palace. Then try 2 hit Arsenal on the counterattacks with
fast players. With the current setup, unless Arsenal score 1st,
there's plenty of draws staring at Arsenal since their goals has
also dried up n with their current dodgy defence, they r bound 2
concede the odd goal from setpieces.
3rd n final point, the squad depth of both Arsenal n Man U pales in
comparison to Chelsea. When the going get's tough, Mourinho can
look at his bench n find an assortment of players. This is a luxury
that Arsenal n Man U cannot afford at present. There4 unless
Chelsea suffer a complete loss of form in it's defence n upfront
and also major injuries to key players, they r in the driving seat
of EPL for this season n the title is their's to lose.
All Arsenal n Man U can do is win their games, especially the
head-to-head against Chelsea n hope for the best.
