MANCHESTER UNITED are exploiting Liverpool's fixture pile-up to smooth their path towards another League and Cup double.

Alex Ferguson has stepped in to poach the Premiership game against Arsenal next Wednesday after the Merseysiders had to postpone when Leeds stretched their English FA Cup quarter-final to a replay.

Now United could end up five points clear of long-time leaders Newcastle in the next week, and as many as 10 ahead of Liverpool.

That, says Ferguson, will be a bonus. The real prize is a well-paced run-in towards the season's climax for a team which has hit top form with 10 straight wins.

The FA Cup sixth round win over Southampton last night forced them to put off the March 30th Old Trafford visit of Arsenal in favour of different London opposition, Chelsea or Wimbledon, in the semi-final at Villa Park a day later.

But they had already approached the Gunners to bring she game forward to the date left vacant by Liverpool.

After seven months trailing Kevin Keegan's men, United will go top by two points if they win at Queens Park Rangers on Saturday. And if Chelsea pull off a shock at Anfield they will be six to eight clear of Roy Evans' team.

United will then be looking for another capital favour when Harry Redknapp takes his reviving West Ham to St James' Park, there Newcastle lost for the first time in the League to United last week.

With 50,000 expected to fill a reshaped Old Trafford for the first time in more than four years for Arsenal's visit, United could then take a firm grip on the first leg of a second double that the bookies now rate as a firming 5-1 shot.

Newcastle would have two games in hand, but are running into their own fixture problems. Their crucial visit to Anfield on April 1st will fall if Liverpool win their Cup replay and set up a semi-final against Villa or Forest.