Beckham back as United bid to tighten the noose

DAVID BECKHAM will be unleashed on Arsenal tonight as Manchester United look to tighten the Premiership grip which they have exerted on Arsenal.

Despite feverish transfer speculation linking the England skipper with a move to Real Madrid, flatly denied by Old Trafford officials even though it has resurfaced again in the Spanish capital yesterday, Alex Ferguson will have no hesitation in restoring Beckham to his starting line-up for "the biggest game of the season".

With just five games remaining, one less than their hosts, United lead the championship race by three points.

Victory at Highbury will leave them requiring just three wins and a draw from their remaining games to complete what many believed was mission impossible just a month ago, when Ferguson's side trailed by eight points.

At the time, the wily United chief claimed his eighth championship success would be the greatest domestic achievement of his long Old Trafford reign. And it is why, despite the renewed speculation over his future, Beckham will be required to provide the ammunition which can shoot the Gunners' down.

"Having David back gives us a terrific option," said Ferguson. "We have a few injury doubts and will take a big squad with us to cover all eventualities but I think he will be playing."

Just how many more games Beckham will start in his United career remains open to considerable doubt. Old Trafford officials were quick to deny weekend speculation that a big-money deal with Real Madrid had already been done.

And while club president Florentino Perez re-affirmed his club's commitment to Luis Figo, the likely fall-guy in any Beckham deal, he hardly doused talk of a move going through by adding on Catalan television: "Even if Beckham arrived, we can assure you that Figo will remain at Real Madrid."

For once though, talk of Beckham's immediate future cannot overshadow the magnitude of a contest which pits the two recent giants of English football in direct opposition with the ultimate prize at stake.

"It's the biggest game of the season, no question about that," said Ferguson. "People say it is going to be won in this area or that one but there will be a lot of good players on the pitch and any of them could do it.

"What we have to do is keep the momentum going that we have built up over the past few weeks."

Seeing what the last few weeks have done will not make pretty viewing for Wenger, accused by Ferguson of being 'over-confident' barely a month ago in what many outsiders felt was a sure sign of the Scot taking a brazen trip into the last-chance saloon.

Instead, the statement has become an all-too chilling reality for Arsenal, who have not only watched their points advantage disintegrate, but also their healthy goal difference, which has tumbled from 14 to just one, courtesy of Shola Ameobi's late effort at St James' Park at the weekend.

"The business of Arsenal being over-confident doesn't matter now," said Ferguson.

At the weekend, Ferguson said: "I bet if they could go back six months they will wish they hadn't said the things they did.

"It's not a matter of being too quick to say them, it's whether you should say them at all. After saying all those things, it would be a terrible blow for them if they didn't win it."

And yesterday he added: "I have been surprised by the rapidity of the change around but I know it can happen. It has been done time again in the Premiership because it is such a tough league. I have experienced often enough over the years that you can never be certain of any game."

Apart from Beckham's return from the hamstring problem he picked up against Real, goalkeeper Fabien Barthez has also returned to training after damaging a toe at St James' Park.

Skipper Roy Keane remains a doubt with a dead leg, while Ryan Giggs and John O'Shea are struggling to shake off hamstring and knee problems respectively.

Ferguson is hoping at least one of that latter trio will make his starting line-up, with Keane's presence particularly influential.

Arsenal should have a virtually full-strength side, with Vieira fit to start despite an ankle problem and the only two question marks over Robert Pires and Ray Parlour.

It is difficult to draw a form line through the two games played between the teams this season with an injury-hit United side emerging victorious in an Old Trafford league meeting while an Arsenal line-up minus Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp came through a physical FA Cup tie at the same venue with a conclusive 2-0 win.