Carrick and Fletcher head for proving ground as flak flies

To the delight of record crowds packing Old Trafford each week, Manchester United's season is panning out like the career of a potential boxing champion who must not be exposed to too much danger too soon.

Fulham, Charlton and Watford were ideal opposition against which to develop a winning habit; two quick knockouts and then a more prolonged workout against a big-hearted slugger. Tottenham were supposed to provide a step up in class last weekend but proved no better than another bunch of southern softies who hardly landed a punch. Celtic arrived in midweek for a British and European title eliminator, and after an often exhilarating contest - toe to toe for an hour - the result was the same.

Now comes the prospect of a heavyweight bout that the fixture computer has held back as cunningly as the sharpest promoter. But even today United have the odds in their favour, with home advantage for the third time in eight days for the visit of Arsenal, whose own Premiership campaign has been characterised by a failure to put away inferior opposition.

Form is transient and personnel change, but the nature of this contest endures. The fur, if not the pizza, will almost certainly fly. "Arsenal-Manchester United games have a real edge and I'm sure this will be no different," says Darren Fletcher, one of the younger generation attempting to make their mark on it. "They had a great result out in Germany [2-1 against Hamburg] so they'll take confidence from that. They're looking to get their League form up and we're looking to maintain ours."

Up until last season, the fixture meant Roy Keane against Patrick Vieira in the battleground of midfield. Now any permutation of Fletcher, Michael Carrick and John O'Shea could be up against, say, Cesc Fabregas, Gilberto Silva and Tomas Rosicky. If Sir Alex Ferguson had had his way, there would have been another new name in the mix as well. Keen to bring in either Owen Hargreaves or Villarreal's Marcos Senna, United unaccountably fell between two stools and ended up with neither after underestimating Bayern Munich's determination not to allow Hargreaves to leave.

Now Ryan Giggs and Park Ji-Sung are both injured, so it is just as well that Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes and Cristiano Ronaldo are all free of suspension. The last-named has been in irresistible form, rivalling Giggs as Premiership player of the month, and if Rooney looked off the pace on his return against Celtic, the admirable Scholes showed no sign of rust and was outstanding.

Ronaldo will fill one of the wide places this afternoon, which does not preclude Fletcher from hoping there is still room for him. Unloved by many United fans, he has a bigger and more influential supporter in Ferguson, who continues to trust him with a high percentage of matches.

"Competition brings out the best in players, and there's a battle in midfield for places," the young Scotland captain said. "It's a squad game and the manager will pick whatever team he thinks will beat Arsenal. If you're not playing, you won't be happy, but it's a team game and we all know that at Manchester United."

At 22, he takes an equally mature view of criticisms of his game, from whatever source: "Criticism's part of football and you have to try to learn from it and progress as a footballer. Each week you try to get better. I'm still young, learning the game and I'm under no illusions about that. You have to be mentally strong to play for Manchester United, that's part of it, the pressures of playing for a club like this, pressures of performing in the Champions' League and pressure to win the Premiership. If you can't handle it, I'm sure the manager wouldn't have you."

Alongside him in midfield, Carrick is learning something of those pressures, compounded in his case by the burden of an inflated transfer fee. After staying at West Ham for a year after their relegation from the Premiership, he might have joined Arsenal but ended up at Tottenham instead, and by this evening will have faced both the north London clubs in the space of a week.

"You come to a club like this and expect to win things," he said of the difference between his present and previous employ-ers. "At Tottenham, no disrespect, but if you won something it would be a great achievement. Here you're playing Champions' League and you'd be disappointed if we didn't have silverware by the end of the season, so that's the big difference."

Spending so much time around people like Scholes tends to be a bonus as well, and Carrick was thrilled to make a first joint appearance with him against Celtic. "He's awesome, a special player, as I knew when I got in the England squad first time around and was training with him every day.

"He's got this special knack of scoring and setting up goals, making it look so simple. Just watching how he goes about his business, playing and training, I'll take that on board and hopefully improve myself."

As for the opposition he might have joined: "A team of Arsenal's calibre will always be a threat, there's so much quality in their squad. But we've got to concentrate on ourselves and what we want to do."

Whatever happens in today's top-of-the-bill games, it may be premature to talk about a knockout punch. But defeat for Ars-enal - like Liverpool - would leave them lying dizzy on the canvas, well behind on points.