Ferguson’s big opportunity to nail Gunners

SIR Alex Ferguson will be aiming to kick Arsenal while they are down tomorrow.

The United boss left several of his top players on the sidelines for the midweek trip to Celtic in the Champions’ League, but there is little chance of the Manchester United boss doing the same for tomorrow lunchtime’s Premier League showdown at the Emirates Stadium.

The injury-hit Gunners cannot afford to lose for a fourth time this season if they are to keep in touch with Chelsea, Liverpool and United, who are setting a strong pace at the top of the table.

This was always going to be a difficult campaign for Arsene Wenger’s side after the summer departures of Aleksandr Hleb, Gilberto Silva, Mathieu Flamini and Jens Lehmann which left them with an even more inexperienced line-up.

Arsenal do not boast the strength in depth of the other top-four clubs and their vulnerability has been exposed by their recent injury troubles.

Indeed, early this week they had only 16 fit senior players for a training session as they prepared for their Champions League group game against Turkish team Fenerbahce.

And former United defender Mikael Silvestre joined the casualty list after breaking his nose in the goalless draw at the Emirates Stadium. His participation against his former club tomorrow hinges on a late test.

Top scorer Emmanuel Abebayor is out for three weeks and Theo Walcott is struggling with a shoulder injury, so the Gunners could be without four front-line strikers as Robin van Persie is suspended and Eduardo is sidelined with a broken leg.

The Reds’ manager is confronted by an entirely different problem - which striker to leave out.

Dimitar Berbatov, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Teves are competing for two places and even though Ferguson fielded all three – together with Cristiano Ronaldo – in the final quarter of last Saturday’s game against Hull City, he is unlikely to do so again.

United were 4-1 ahead when Ferguson brought on Tevez and switched Rooney to wide right, but by the end of the game United were forced to hold on for a 4-3 win after being left short in midfield.