Ferguson hints at a grudging respect for Wenger's new Arsenal

Soccer/FA Cup:Alex Ferguson has long been wary of the cult of the individual and feels such suspicions have been further justified by Arsenal's renaissance following Thierry Henry's departure.

Manchester United's manager believes Arsène Wenger's side are much improved without the France forward, explaining: "Before Arsenal looked to Thierry Henry as the player, whereas they now look more solid."

As David Beckham, Roy Keane and Paul Ince can testify, Ferguson is deeply suspicious of players who become bigger than the team and tends to offload them. Indeed, although an unsettled Henry swapped the Emirates for Camp Nou voluntarily last summer, the Scot - whose side meet Arsenal at Old Trafford in the FA Cup this evening - suggested that Wenger has benefited from his defection.

"Arsenal might be a more compact team now than when they had Thierry Henry in their side. They were more about individuals then," said Ferguson, whose policy of never becoming sentimental has served him well.

In Ferguson's world no player is ever indispensable and "The king is dead, long live the king", might be his personal motto.

Certainly Arsenal seem to have discovered a new front-line leader in the free-scoring Emmanuel Adebayor, who has scored 12 goals in his last nine games, and rumour has it that United's manager has cast the odd covetous glance in the direction of the Togo international.

"Adebayor's height and physique makes a difference for Arsenal," said Ferguson, who will preside over his 100th FA Cup tie today. "When we played them last season, they were knocking long balls up to Adebayor and Arsène Wenger says his physical presence has made a big difference to the whole team. We have seen big centre-forwards down the years whose main attribute was heading, but Adebayor has got a lot more than that."

While Ferguson has an inkling Wenger may rest Adebayor before Arsenal's Champions League game against Milan on Wednesday - when United travel to Lyon - he may bring a traditionally built centre forward of his own out of cold storage.

Louis Saha can offer a more conventional option, but the French forward has spent too much of this season in the treatment room. He is finally fit again and may face Arsenal, but Ferguson, while appearing frustrated by Saha's absences, denies regretting his failure to sign a more robust target man last summer.

In the absence of such a figure, United have dazzled opponents courtesy of positional interchanging, with most goals coming from Cristiano Ronaldo, naturally a winger.

"Adebayor is an in-form player but I wouldn't swap him for Cristiano Ronaldo," Ferguson said. "We've been playing fantastic football, the scoring rate has been good and I don't regret anything. You would like every player to be fit all the time, but that isn't the case with Louis Saha. If he stays fit until the end of the season, that would be a big addition to us."

Matches between United and Arsenal are always huge, even if their rivalry has been diluted slightly by a combination of managerial mellowing and the emergence of Chelsea, a frisson remains.

With Wenger's side five points ahead of United in the title race, there is also enhanced respect on Ferguson's part. "There was a period when Arsenal could not accept getting tackled, but they have a different team now," he said. "I think this one will be a normal, Manchester United v Arsenal game, feisty, competitive and full of a lot of football; both our teams play good football."