But in reality this was a contest in which the quality of the football, for once, came close to matching the ferocity, although that is still unlikely to have much impact on Chelsea, who will now face Blackburn on Wednesday knowing victory will extend their lead at the top of the Premiership table to 11 points.
With the exception of Silvestre's moment of madness, Arsenal could have few complaints.
Leading 2-1 at half-time thanks to a Dennis Bergkamp strike after Ryan Giggs had cancelled out Patrick Vieira's early header, the Gunners had the game in their grasp.
But the fragility that has dogged Arsene Wenger's side ever since they surrendered their 49-match unbeaten league run at Old Trafford in November surfaced again as Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice in the space of five second half minutes to transform the game.
Ljungberg had a glorious chance to take his revenge on Silvestre by equalising shortly after United were reduced to ten men but he could only scoop his close range shot straight into the arms of Carroll and substitute John O'Shea put the outcome beyond any doubt with just under two minutes left.
With Vieira having to be restrained from lunging at Roy Keane in the tunnel before the match, it was quickly apparent referee Graham Poll was going to have his work cut out.