CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Alex Ferguson has admitted that Saturday's Premiership title twist forced him into a rethink over his squad for tonight's Champions League encounter with Deportivo La Coruna.
United's smooth progress into the last eight, coupled with Deportivo's elimination from Group D, was always likely to mean Ferguson would offer some of his talented youngsters an opportunity to impress in the Riazor Stadium.
Ferguson, meanwhile, yesterday renewed his attack on Arsenal and their manager Arsene Wenger. Not only are the Premiership leaders arrogant and over-confident, he said, they lack respect for their opponents.
Ferguson also claimed it would be his "greatest-ever feat" if Manchester United won the league this season "given the triumphalism of Arsenal".
The United manager's latest criticisms will be seen as a calculated attempt to undermine Wenger and his players at a time when their Premiership lead has been trimmed from eight points to two in less than a fortnight. After he accused them of bragging two weeks ago, he was persuaded to prolong the argument by Arsenal's defeat at Blackburn on Saturday.
"I was interested he (Wenger) was saying 'We'll still win the league' after that game," said Ferguson.
"It's a bold statement. I don't think you can say things like that. No matter what position we were in, I certainly couldn't and none of my players would.
"We've always respected how difficult the Premier League is to win. We respect our opponents, do you understand? I noticed what he said and I was surprised, actually. But they say they're going to win the Treble, don't they?
"I'm happy with our position because we're back in the race. We've whittled down their lead and it's in our hands now - if we were to win all our remaining games the title is ours. There are no guarantees, of course. But it's probably our biggest challenge ever."
PROBABLE TEAMS
DEPORTIVO: Jose Molina; Manuel Pablo, Cesar, Jorge Andrade, Joan Capdevila; Victor, Aldo Duscher, Roberto Acuna, Jose Emilio Amavisca, Juan Carlos Valeron; Roy Makaay
MANCHESTER UNITED: Roy Carroll; Phil Neville, Laurent Blanc, John O'Shea, Danny Pugh; Darren Fletcher, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, 42-Kieran Richardson, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer; Diego Forlan
Referee: Vladimir Hrinak (Slovakia)
