Arsenal still have a point to prove

Arsene Wenger believes there will be no trouble at Old Trafford tomorrow, but . . . Kevin McCarra reports

Arsene Wenger knows when to mock his own seriousness. Asked yesterday how he was celebrating his 55th birthday, the Arsenal manager replied he would be watching football tapes as usual. Then he added whimsically, "With candles around". His team reflect his own nature in the way it marries sophistication with a vivid personality.

That blend has seen Arsenal accumulate the record of 49 unbeaten Premiership matches they will try to shield at Old Trafford tomorrow. Their trip there last September ended, of course, in a fracas for which Wenger's team were mostly to blame after Ruud van Nistelrooy had squandered a last-minute penalty in the 0-0 stalemate.

The manager contends the FA punishment was severe since it included a £175,000 fine for Arsenal but outsiders feel the players were treated leniently. Wenger knows the benefits of that game outlasted the short-term scandal.

"If van Nistelrooy hadn't missed that penalty, we wouldn't be sitting here with 49 games unbeaten," he said. The manager knows Arsenal, who had gone there straight from a 3-0 home defeat by Internazionale, drew a renewed conviction from their survival that has since allowed them to make history.

The Arsenal chairman, Peter Hill-Wood, yesterday admitted to being ashamed of the team's conduct and Wenger owned up to having the same reaction. "I was embarrassed," he said. "We got a lot of negative publicity and as a manager you feel responsible for it."

Arsenal mended their ways as they went on to claim the league title and the best disciplinary record in the Premiership. Despite that, Wenger provided no trite guarantees about the return to Old Trafford. "In football you can never say never," he cautioned. "It's a sport of human beings. You want gladiators who are ready to go in with full commitment and a big passion. I don't think it will happen again but . . ."

Arsenal will be in a better position to compete if the captain Patrick Vieira completes an unexpectedly quick recovery from an ankle injury. He did some training yesterday and, if he is able to cope with full contact in today's practice game, the midfielder will play.

United knocked Arsenal out in the FA Cup semi-final last season. Although Wenger observes the then forthcoming Champions League occasion with Chelsea was a distraction that day, his side did not beat Alex Ferguson's team in the Premiership either. Arsenal, in that narrow sense, have something to prove. Wenger insists the 14-point lead over United that a win would deliver might not kill them off.

Tomorrow's game invites Arsenal to show ruthlessness as well as style.

"With the players United have you expect them to be more of a creative side than a destructive side," Wenger said, guessing at what lies ahead. "I don't expect the game to be over-physical. Anyway, I think we have to be prepared to cope with any kind of situation. The best way to respond, no matter what happens on the pitch, is to play our game based on speed and technique."

He was fastidious in avoiding teasing of Ferguson. Wenger was happy to relish a long duel that is virtually unique in world football. "I have been here for eight years and he has been with United for 18," the Arsenal manager said. "You don't usually have people in place long enough for that kind of rivalry at two clubs that are consistently fighting for the championship. It is special."

He was full of compliments for the attacking potential that is so far untapped by United this season. When he extolled the home-grown figures such as the Neville brothers, David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, though, he was evoking an era that is coming to a close. Beckham and Butt are gone from Old Trafford and none of them is fresh any more.

"At some stage you have to break it up because they are getting older but it is a challenge to replace players," said Wenger. This was a coded assertion of his view that United are in transition.

Wenger reports he and Ferguson do have interesting chats about football, without "bitterness or aggression". Nonetheless neither man can draw back from a conflict that, year by year, determines the course of English football.