Roy Collins on the challenge the leaders face against serial giant-killers
For all Alex Ferguson's successes over the past eight years, the thought of Blackburn must have interrupted many a knight's sleep since the final day of the 1994-95 season, when Rovers were handed the title through Manchester United's failure to win at West Ham.
Since then Rovers have never been a threat to anyone but themselves, suffering two years of exile in the English League and changing their manager five times. But if they have failed to mount a championship challenge since their return two seasons ago, Ferguson knows that, under the passionate direction of their current manager, Graeme Souness, they are quite capable of thrusting a stick into his side's championship wheels today.
Souness is an expert at winding up his players for big occasions, as in last season's triumphant League Cup final against Tottenham, by presenting his club as a tinpot, flat-cap northern outfit against a flashy, upmarket team from the south.
In the same way, he is already playing the card of small-time northern cousins for today's Old Trafford clash.
"United have come from nowhere to get back to the top and we are being seen as cannon fodder today," he said. "But we will go there to win the game because that's the only way my players can play."
Concerned that he might be playing up his side's chances, he added: "The downside to that is that we could end up being hammered 5-0 if things don't go our way."
Yet, while Arsenal face their own test of character today with a trip to the Riverside Stadium to face Middlesbrough, United's task appears even tougher. Blackburn have already triumphed twice over Arsenal this season, as well as beating United 1-0 just before Christmas, a result that looked as though it might send Ferguson's team into terminal decline.
On top of that, they boast a 5-2 thrashing of Newcastle at Ewood Park and an astonishing 2-1 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge two months ago. If anyone felt that Wednesday's 2-2 draw at Highbury was the decisive moment in the title race, Blackburn will be more than happy and are more than capable of proving them wrong today.
That is no surprise, one might say, given that Rovers have outstanding individual performers in David Dunn, Damien Duff and Hakan Sukur, whose skills are balanced by the combativeness of Tugay and Henning Berg. But, given Souness's nature, it is also no coincidence that his team, who can seriously under-achieve against the Premiership's lesser lights, have produced their best against the best.
In contrast, nine games ago, in a 3-0 defeat at Aston Villa, Blackburn offered so little resistance that, if they had been competing under the rules of horseracing, they would have faced a heavy punishment under the non-triers' rule.
But since then they have lost only one match as Souness has reignited their hopes of a place in the UEFA Cup.
"People talk about us completing the double double by beating both Arsenal and Manchester United twice," he said. "But we need the points for our own reasons today and that's all we have to consider."
It says everything about Souness's managerial qualities that he has continued to wring top-class performances from Dunn and Andy Cole, despite falling out with them
Conversely United will be hoping that Middlesbrough, the last team to beat them in the Premiership back in December, will leave Arsenal's title hopes washed up by the Riverside.
Ferguson, however, knows how Souness's team psych themselves up for encounters like today's, and with Duff receiving medical clearance to build on a rich vein of form, Rovers believe they can exploit a United side who, for all their legendary focus, must have an eye on Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid.
On the eve of Rovers' win over Arsenal, Ferguson said that he had a hunch they could do his team a favour. Today he must hope that Souness's team do not provide a similar effort to tilt the championship decisively against his team.
