ALEX FERGUSON has warned Arsenal he is considering unleashing his most destructive attacking quartet in tonight’s Champions League semi-final. The Manchester United manager said his priority was to ensure his team played with “more vigilance” in defence but he is keen to capture the spirit of Saturday’s 5-2 defeat of Tottenham Hotspur, when Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez conjured up all of United’s goals in 22 mesmerising second-half minutes.

“There are plenty of options that I’m wrestling with,” said Ferguson. “The performance in the second half on Saturday and the way Carlos Tevez’s introduction to the team changed the pattern of the game – that has definitely not been lost to me.”

The likelihood is that Ferguson will opt for a more conservative system, with the regularly disappointed Tevez on the bench, but the manager is also intrigued by perceived vulnerabilities in Arsenal’s defence ahead of a game he anticipates could be a classic in terms of both teams’ commitment to attack.

“Faint heart never won fair lady,” was one of the sayings he applied and he expects Arsene Wenger to operate the same philosophy. “They won’t change,” said Ferguson. “They’ll do what they always do – and that’s have a go.”

Talking ahead of what he described as “the perfect semi-final”, Ferguson said he was reminded of the thrilling quality of his opponents when Arsenal beat United 2-1 at the Emirates in November. “There will be more vigilance this time in terms of not losing a goal, particularly on your own ground,” he added. “That will be the key to it. We need to win without losing a goal, put it that way.”

Yet the manager later returned to the idea of carrying straight on from how the game finished against Tottenham and, at the very least, it would be unsurprising to see his four most dangerous players on the pitch together at some point of the second half. “

“Listen, football is all about taking risks,” Ferguson said. “You can see how we’ve risked over the years. It’s a part of Manchester United. You’ve got to risk to win games – it’s not a problem for me, that. It’s always worth it to win a game.”

United, Ferguson said, had been “unstoppable” once he had gambled on Saturday. “The energy of Tevez electrified us and Rooney weighed in with a brilliance that ran through the whole team,” he said.

“There were two goals for Wayne, two for Cristiano and Dimitar responded to over-the-top criticism with a class performance.”

Whether he would dare to try it from the start remains to be seen, although it is probably worth remembering that Ferguson is infamous for throwing in a strategic red herring when it comes to United’s key games and once warned journalists “never try to read the mind of a madman” when it came to his team selections.

As yet, Ferguson has not started a game with Tevez, Rooney, Ronaldo and Berbatov, and his policy in Europe has been notably more cautious in recent years. Rooney, for one, is regularly asked to play in a wide midfield position rather than that of an orthodox striker and the same may be necessary again to provide cover for Patrice Evra.

Wenger will have noted the way Tottenham’s Aaron Lennon had, to quote Harry Redknapp, the “hoodoo” over Evra until Ferguson moved Rooney to the left wing at half-time on Saturday, the idea being that he would offer the left-back greater protection.

Theo Walcott has similar attributes to Lennon but Ferguson shrugged when it was put to him that this could be a vulnerable area.

“Patrice is quick enough for that. He has played against Walcott a few times and we are all right with that.

“But we have had to do our homework because the boy Walcott is quick, probably the quickest forward in England at the moment. We just have to prepare the right way.”

If Rooney is not asked to “sacrifice himself” the industrious Park Ji-sung will probably play in front of Evra while, on the other side, John O’Shea will replace Rafael da Silva following the Brazilian’s raw performance against Tottenham. Ferguson conceded the teenager has still to develop the positional sense of playing at right-back. “We expect that – he is only 18 and that’s young for a defender.”

Ferguson was also asked about his relationship with Wenger and, if their feuding were to start up again over the next week, this was not the moment.

“I like the way Arsenal play,” he said. “He [Wenger] has kept his principles always the same and I think that’s great credit to him. His consistency hasn’t changed and I think Arsenal have reaped the rewards of that.”

Venue:Old Trafford Kick-off:7.45pm On TV: RTÉ 2, Sky Sports 2

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