Reds prepare for the defining battle

THE FA Cup has thrown up some epic encounters down the years.

Seldom, however, has it produced a fifth-round tie laced with such psychological significance as the events which will unfold at Old Trafford today at lunchtime when Manchester United take on Arsenal.

For Arsenal, at stake is the defence of the double won so imperiously last season, when it seemed manager Arsene Wenger had smashed the United domination and was on the cusp of building a Highbury dynasty.

For United, if anything, the stakes are higher. Victory against Arsenal would make United overwhelming favourites to land both domestic cup competitions, already they face Liverpool in the Worthington Cup final next month.

It would also hand them a precious edge in a Premiership race in which they trail the Gunners by three points, but have still to travel to Highbury.

Arsenal have been dispatched once from Old Trafford this season United's 2-0 triumph in December cementing Ferguson's rejuvenation work following a stuttering start to the season.

There is reason to believe Wenger might again leave empty-handed.

Inevitably, all eyes will be on the striking battle between Ruud van Nistelrooy and Arsenal's Thierry Henry and there is no doubt it could prove pivotal.

By some distance they are the two finest strikers in the Premiership. Who is the best? It is difficult to say, though if your life depended on a striker scoring when he was through on goal with only the goalkeeper to beat, it would be prudent to bet on the Dutchman.

At £19 million, van Nistelrooy is perhaps the shrewdest bargain of Ferguson's 16-year reign at Old Trafford.

A master predator he has no equal inside the six-yard box, a striker who can be trusted to score regularly and frequently with the minimum of chances.

By contrast, Henry's talents are more quixotic and often more thrilling. There is no one capable of scoring more wonderful goals or rounding off sweeping thrusts with such cameos of brilliance.

Henry just edges it as the superior talent and he appears a certainty for the Footballer of the Year title. But he is not the most crucial factor in this intriguing cup tie. Nor is van Nistelrooy.

It is the winner of the midfield battle between Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira which ultimately could prove decisive. On that score, the smart money is on Keane.

For a start the Irishman, having announced his international retirement, did not play midweek, while Vieira laboured in France's 2-0 defeat by the Czech Republic.

At 32 Keane, with his Irish traumas behind him, knows he is playing on borrowed time, especially since doctors advised him to quit on medical grounds at the time of his hip operation last September.

Keane has defied the medics and is gradually reaching full fitness after a lengthy recuperation. There is still no better box-to-box midfielder in the Premiership, whether it is surging forward to offer assistance in attack or shoring up the holes in a United defence which has improved hugely as the season has progressed.

It is Keane's leadership qualities, however, which set him apart. No United player dare take a breather with Keane around, none must even consider shirking his responsibility.

That is a powerful driving force and today's match might well see the first tangible benefits of the reinvigoration Keane hopes to derive from his international retirement.

If it is as spectacular as Alan Shearer's at Newcastle then Ferguson can begin to anticipate a rush of silverware.

True, both clubs have had internationals on midweek duty and both face tricky Champions League ties this coming week Arsenal against Ajax and United facing Juventus.

But this FA Cup tie is too big, too defining in football's domestic order, to play weakened teams.

On a weekend when the FA Cup is not entirely blessed with the most alluring of matches, mighty Red against mighty Red is as big as it gets.