Fergie needs no motivation to halt Gunners bandwagon

IF Alex Ferguson needed stark evidence that the standards he has imbued at Manchester United have slipped, then it would have arrived as he sat in the Stamford Bridge stand, along with assistant Walter Smith, last Wednesday.

All the talk was of whether Chelsea or Arsenal were best placed to represent Britain in a Champions League semi-final. All the conjecture was about the future of Claudio Ranieri and the shrewdness of Arsene Wenger, which has seen Arsenal equal the record of Leeds and Liverpool with 29 unbeaten matches from the start of the season.

One more against Manchester United on Sunday will see them hailed for the most invincible sequence of results in a league season in English football.

They say the time to worry is when they stop talking about you if that is so then Ferguson has reason to be concerned.

United are out of Europe. They trail Arsenal by 12 points in the Premiership and the only talk relevant to United is that speculating on whether the Ferguson empire is finally set to topple. Those who write them off, however, should beware.

Nothing would fire the competitive juices of Ferguson more than depriving the Gunners of their unbeaten record and going on to deny them an FA Cup final place.

The United boss needs no extra motivation for that task. Not that the two biggest domestic games of the season so far need added spice. Ferguson and Wenger may have footballing respect for each other's achievements, but already a needle exists between them which fills the next 10 days with the sharpest of edges.

Yet while United's frailties have been well documented they still possess the firepower to trouble an Arsenal side which is just beginning to realise the weight of pressure and fixture congestion that accompanies chasing the treble which Ferguson successfully accomplished back in 1999.

Against Chelsea on Wednesday Ferguson also will have witnessed that Thierry Henry, the class act of the Premiership and an artist of beautiful ability, can be shunted to the peripheries of the game if you are prepared to pack your midfield and work tirelessly to cut off his supply line.

United, even with the return of Gary Neville, could never say the same after shipping 20 goals in 12 games since Rio Ferdinand began his eight-month suspension.

It is inconceivable however, that Henry could endure as quiet a 90 minutes against a United side shorn of confidence and bereft of consistency. United's problems do not end there. Somehow they have to restore the service to Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Henry maybe a great scorer of great goals, but Van Nistelrooy has always been a great scorer of instantly forgettable goals scrappy, scrambling efforts which come most often when he battles his way to the far post.

Sunday is likely to come down to which defence copes best with the various threats of the Dutchman and Henry. On that score everything favours Arsenal, for whom Kolo Toure is the most improved defender in the Premiership, his central partnership with Sol Campbell at last giving the Gunners the solidity of old.

Patrick Vieira too gives the Gunners a midfield edge because though Roy Keane is back, he is not the box-to-box rampager of old. An Arsenal win would cement their domination over United this season, confirming their edge and opening up a points gap of 15 which would be almost too humiliating to bear for Ferguson.

More likely, Fergie's pride and renowned fire, and the fact Neville, Keane, Silvestre and Saha are fit again, will salvage a draw.