Arsenal have all guns blazing

ARSENE Wenger believes his young Arsenal side head to Manchester United tomorrow full of confidence.

After sweeping past Celtic in the Champions League on Wednesday, the Gunners have a record of four wins from four matches this season.

Two of those victories have come in the Premier League, Everton and Portsmouth feeling the full force of a Gunners strike force which has produced 10 goals.

And Wenger, whose verbal spats with opposite number Sir Alex Ferguson down the years have created as many headlines as the matches themselves, declared: "I am happy to go to Old Trafford because it is the first big, big test.

"You always want to have a high level of confidence when you go to Old Trafford. We have that at the moment.

"We are now in the top, top league in Europe, with all the big names. Our team against Celtic was an average age of 23.9 years.

"We want to continue to improve our team play, the speed of our game and show that we have made big improvements come Saturday at 5.15pm.”

However, not everything is rosy in the garden for Arsenal.

Skipper Cesc Fabregas sat out the Celtic game with a thigh injury and is losing his battle to face United, while Aaron Ramsey limped off against Celtic with a knee injury and Abou Diaby is also rated a doubt.

United have problems of their own, not least the thigh injury which continues to keep skipper Rio Ferdinand on the sidelines and leaves the Reds defence vulnerable to the free-scoring Gunners.

But 21-year-old Jonny Evans has proved an able deputy in the past, the central defender registering 34 appearances last season as cover for either Ferdinand or Nemanja Vidic.

And he is relishing the challenge which Arsenal will pose tomorrow.

"Sometimes playing against bigger teams is a bit easier," he said. "You are

"You think about the game a bit more.

“Concentration is a big part of defending. You need to keep switched on to do your job properly."

The Reds have had a mixed start to the season, beating Birmingham 1-0 on the opening day before suffering a shock 1-0 defeat at Burnley and then bouncing back to hammer Wigan 5-0.

Wayne Rooney scored twice against Wigan, taking his season’s tally to three goals in as many games, and the signs are that United will be able to cope with the summer losses of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez.

And Ferdinand insists he will be happy enough if the September 1 transfer deadline passes with no further additions, even though Ferguson has been linked with bids for Arjen Robben and Luka Modric in the last few days.

"The manager has so much intelligence and experience," he said.

"He is not looking for a like–for–like replacement for Ronaldo. He wants players who can push the team further on.

"If we go into the season with what we have now, I would sit very comfortably in our changing room.”