Wenger relishing United test

Arsene Wenger feels his young Arsenal side will head to Manchester United on Saturday full of confidence after sweeping past Celtic and into today’s draw for the group stage of the Champions League.

A somewhat controversial penalty from Eduardo set the Gunners, who were missing injured captain Cesc Fabregas – a doubt for the trip to Old Trafford – on their way just before the half hour.

Emmanuel Eboue made sure there would be no comeback for Tony Mowbray’s side with a neat finish before substitute Andrey Arshavin slotted in a third as Arsenal completed a 5-1 aggregate win following a fine volley from Celtic midfielder Massimo Donati in stoppage-time.

Arsenal have now won all of their four matches so far this season and Wenger believes that makes “perfect” preparation for Saturday’s showdown with the league champions, who knocked the Gunners out of Europe in last season’s semi-finals.

“I am happy to go to Old Trafford because it is the first big, big test,” he said. “You want always to have a high level of confidence when you go to Old Trafford, we have that at the moment.

“We are now in the top, top league in Europe, with all the big names. Our team against Celtic was an average age of 23.9 years.”