arsenal faced manchester united at old trafford on 7 december 2002; the home team had beaten title challengers liverpool the previous weekend. manchester united opened the scoring in the 21st minute – a poor clearance by cygan allowed juan sebastián verón to score. arsenal goalkeeper rami shaaban was substituted before the start of the second half, having pulled a thigh muscle. he was replaced by stuart taylor, who was helpless to prevent paul scholes from scoring a second goal, 15 minutes before the final whistle. a 1–1 draw at tottenham hotspur was followed by a win against middlesbrough; a goal apiece from campbell and pires meant arsenal were top of the table on christmas. on boxing day, arsenal came from a goal down to beat west brom 2–1; in doing so, they extended their lead at the top to four points. three days later, arsenal's lead was increased to five points, having drawn with liverpool.