Gunners to walk high wire in Man Utd showdown

Arsene Wenger has billed Saturday’s showdown between Arsenal and Manchester United as one of the summit meetings between England’s big four that will decide this season’s Premier League title battle.

That assertion is backed up by the stats that show United took 13 points out of a possible 18 from their meetings with Liverpool, Chelsea and the Gunners last season — a haul that effectively kept the trophy at Old Trafford.

With Wenger’s Arsenal having lost three times already this season — leaving them six points adrift of leaders Chelsea — they would appear to be the side with most to lose in Saturday’s lunchtime encounter.

But United’s most seasoned campaigner, Ryan Giggs, believes Arsenal will still be a threat regardless of whether or not United emerge from the Emirates with three points.

“When you look at the quality Arsenal have, I don’t think we can finish off their title hopes on Saturday,” said the Welshman, who effectively booked United’s place in the last 16 of the Champions League with his late equaliser at Celtic on Wednesday.

Giggs recognises that Arsenal have been hit hard by the combination of injury and suspension that have deprived them of strikers Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie for Saturday’s match, as well as making Theo Walcott a doubtful starter.

But he insisted: “They have got a few players out at the moment – but all four top teams, if they are there or thereabouts, are capable of going on a run. That has always been the case.

“I expect us all to be involved at the end. We are going to have losses of form and not get the results we want. Hopefully we have had our poor spell.”

None of the top four have been entirely convincing of late: Liverpool’s unbeaten start in the league ended at Tottenham last week while leaders Chelsea were well-beaten by Roma in midweek.

Luiz Felipe Scolari’s men will seek to pick up the pieces at Blackburn on Sunday with scathing criticism from skipper John Terry still ringing in their ears.

Terry is hoping the Roma setback will serve as a “kick up the backside” for a squad he accused of lacking fight and desire in the Italian capital.

“We just sort of strolled and went there thinking we were better than them when clearly we were not,” he said. “The quicker we forget about it and wipe the slate clean the better.”

Liverpool, who needed a stoppage time penalty to salvage a Champions League draw at home to Atletico Madrid in midweek, will expect to return to winning ways when West Brom vist Anfield on Saturday.

Rafael Benitez would never admit it but it is highly likely that Liverpool’s Spanish manager will be breathing a sigh of relief over the anticipated return from injury of Fernando Torres, whose absence for the last few weeks has severely blunted the Reds cutting edge.

Tottenham’s quest to escape the relegation zone has been boosted by a haul of seven points from their three matches since Harry Redknapp took charge last month.

But Spurs remain rooted to the bottom of the table and Sunday’s trip to Manchester City will provide a stiff test of the extent of the revival engineered by Redknapp.

Despite his extraordinary start to life at White Hart Lane, Redknapp is taking nothing for granted given that just six points currently separate his side from Everton in seventh place.

“I’ve never seen a tighter league and it might take more points than usual to stay up,” he warned this week.

Fixtures (1500 GMT unless stated)

Saturday

Arsenal v Man Utd (1245 GMT), Hull City v Bolton, Liverpool v West Brom, Sunderland v Portsmouth, West Ham v Everton, Wigan v Stoke (1245 GMT)

Sunday

Aston Villa v Middlesbrough, Blackburn v Chelsea (1330 GMT), Fulham v Newcastle (1600 GMT), Manchester City v Tottenham