Alex Ferguson saluted captain marvel Roy Keane, whose two goals led Manchester United to victory over Arsenal at Highbury yesterday. Ferguson insisted he had never doubted the commitment of Keane, who has so far refused to sign a new contract offer.

Keane, who is keeping his options open until his current deal runs out next summer, cancelled out Fredrik Ljungberg's opener and grabbed a late winner. And his double-strike left Ferguson crowing: "I've never had any doubts and his performance today tells you that.

"He's focused on the team, he's the captain and he wants to try to lead us to another triumph."

While delighted with the 2-1 victory, Ferguson also sounded a note of caution about some aspects of his team's performance.

"At times we played some great football but at times the defence was very poor," he added.

"We almost played like a practice match - you attack and we'll attack - and that created a really open match.

"I think you saw the quality of both sides today in quite an enthralling match to my mind. It's an important result."

Ferguson added that United are waiting on the extent of Raimond van der Gouw's injury, after the Dutchman was taken off in injury time with a facial injury following a collision with Martin Keown.

United have already lost Mark Bosnich, who sustained a hamstring injury in the win over Leeds last week.

Ferguson added: "We'll have to see how Raimond is. He was very brave there, he's got a sore one and we may need to send him for an X-ray."

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admitted that United had struck an early psychological blow in the title race by winning at Highbury but predicted that the Gunners would bounce back.

"Today it was important not to lose. A draw would have been alright but it's a big blow to us to lose this game.

"They're a good side with great confidence and they kept that going today but it's a long way to go and we'll fight back."

Referee Graham Poll struggled to keep control of the game as tempers frayed late on and Wenger felt early leniency by the official had contributed to a stormy finish.

"I think there were some bad fouls early on and he (the referee) was a little bit lenient maybe but it's very difficult to say when you watch a game from the bench," said Wenger.

Arsenal had to ride their luck early on as United made the running only to be denied by Alex Manninger.

"At the beginning of the game we were lucky and Alex had two or three good saves.

"But, after we went 1-0 up, we could have scored a second goal and maybe have killed the game," Wenger told Sky Sports.

United goal hero Keane said: "We were under the cosh a little bit and we knew we would only get a few chances.

"Against Arsenal you've got to take your chances and fortunately they fell nicely for me, especially the second one."