Arsenal's gift from God proves his worth

It may be asking too much for Nwankwo Kanu to ever reproduce the incredible goal he scored with an airborne back-heel volley in Arsenal's 6-1 spectacular at Middlesbrough a week ago.

But look out Derby County - the Gunners' opponents at Highbury tomorrow - because the 6ft 5in Nigerian, still only 22, is already familiar with miracles.

A devout Christian, he thanks God every day that he's even alive. Three years ago after he had just been named African Player of the Year, moved to Italy's Inter Milan after winning three Dutch League titles with Ajax and led his country to Olympic Games soccer gold, Kanu had to have open-heart surgery.

Surgeons in Cleveland, Ohio spent four hours repairing a defective cardiac valve - and told him he would have died if the problem had not been discovered during a medical examination. "There were no symptoms, nothing seemed wrong. But when I joined Inter the trouble was noticed during the examination. I went to Cleveland on November 5th to be operated on and I had recovered in six months.

"But I was out of football for 16 months altogether, and before I joined Arsenal in February I had only played 11 games for Inter plus a few more for Nigeria at the World Cup last summer.

"But in my mind I was never in doubt that I would play again. That's what I can take from my Christian faith. It was difficult being away from football for so long and it was frustrating watching so many games on television, but I felt determined to come back."

Kanu has appeared only 13 times for the Gunners so far, and just four in the starting line-up, but he's already grabbed five goals since manager Arsene Wenger gambled £3.5 million on him - including a dramatic late winner that knocked Derby out of the FA cup in the quarter-finals last month.

"Yes, it was a gamble to sign him," admits Wenger, "but when the talent is very big the gamble is small. The only doubts were physical ones because he had not played for so long. He's still improving. We won't see the best of him until next season, but he's already proved his outstanding ability." Wenger knows Kanu will be a key figure in the championship race, with the different dimension he can add. Wenger said: "It surprised everybody the way he scored that goal at Middlesbrough but it was instinctive.

"We were four goals ahead at the time, but even at 0-0 I think he would have tried it. The way his body was positioned when the cross came to him was the only way he could have scored and so he just reacted. The great thing is that he had the quality of technique to do it."

Not surprisingly, Kanu has already made his name with the Arsenal fans. There are songs galore which exhalt him on the terraces. And it has now been decided at Highbury that he will officially be known as just Kanu.

Andy Cole believes he has repaid Alex Ferguson and Manchester United fans for sticking by him during his difficult days at Old Trafford.

Cole laboured under the tag of being a £6.25 million misfit for the first 30 months of his United career. He had been unable to reproduce his goal-scoring heroics from his Newcastle days until everything clicked into place 18 months ago.

Since then he has not looked back and he bagged 25 goals last season to finish the Premiership's top scorer. This season he has formed a prolific partnership with Dwight Yorke and he has netted 23 times with the promise of more to come.

"Alex Ferguson stuck by me in the not-so-good days, but I think I've fully repaid him now," Cole said.

"He has always been really good to me and so have the fans. I've always tried to repay both the manager and the supporters in the best way I know possible and that's to score goals. I think I've done that now." Cole has recovered from the ankle injury which caused him to miss England's friendly against Hungary midweek, to face Aston Villa at Old Trafford today.

Paul Scholes, Ronny Johnsen and Denis Irwin are also available again, but United could be without five players through suspension and injury.

Ryan Giggs is out because of his ankle problem, while Henning Berg is still recovering from his medial knee ligament damage. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is almost certain to join them on the sidelines after he returned from international duty with Norway with a knee ligament injury. Jaap Stam is struggling to recover from his Achilles tendon strain, while skipper Roy Keane is banned.

"The main thing is that we don't have any long-term injuries," coach Ferguson said.

"They're just injuries that you're going to get at this time of the season. We've got a strong pool of players to cope with this and we will make use of it."

United will regain top spot in the Premiership from champions Arsenal if they beat Villa. The Gunners do not play until tomorrow when they face Derby at Pride Park.