No chance in Hell...

More big match previews today. Quite a lot of them focus on Arsenal and it is slightly worrying that they all write off Arsenal's chances of getting anything from the game: it is almost as if they are playing down their chances so that if they win, tomorrow they can really laud them and slag us off, and if we win, they can say, "well, we always knew this would happen, no big deal.

Take this from Paul Wilson in The Guardian:

... were Arsenal to lift themselves after the drama and despair of Europe to take three points from Old Trafford this afternoon it would count as their most miraculous achievement of the season. Actually, never mind this season. It would be a miracle of biblical proportions. And Arsène Wenger would be the new Charlton Heston.

Right.

This report by Jonathan Northcroft in The Times has some humorous words on Wenger's inability to handle the truth:

It was not the first time in recent months that Wenger has declined to accept being vanquished. He is a postmodernist when it comes to football results: what a scoreline appears to say is not necessarily what it means, at least when it comes to ones that show Arsenal with fewer goals than their opposition. When Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-1 last month, Wenger sniffed: “It was a game we should have won; they decided to play long-ball and that was the only way they could trouble us.”

He added that Chelsea’s first goal had been offside. He was even dismissive about Tottenham beating Arsenal 5-1 in the Carling Cup semi-final second leg. “The score was very brutal but it doesn’t reflect what I have seen, because the first shot was a goal, the second goal was an own goal, the third goal was after half-time and the rest of the game had no real meaning,” he said. Lucky old Spurs. Five fortunate goals.

And he actually praises us as well, amazing:

At Old Trafford this afternoon he meets opponents whose record is troubling to his logic. It would be hard to argue that Manchester United’s play has been inferior to Arsenal’s over the past two seasons and Sir Alex Ferguson’s side are reigning champions, top of the Premier League again, and in their second successive Champions League semi-final. United are a young side, too, but they appear to have found a way of being gorgeous on the eye while getting on with the ugly business of winning.

Credit where credit is due, if only more people would recognise this.

Normal service resumes in The Telegraph, where Roy Collins tells us what great football Arsenal play, hardly mentioning us at all. I won't bother quoting, imagine what it says - the only justifiable criticism of Arsenal apparently is the size of their squad...

Two reports take this up (note I'm not saying that the size of the squad isn't important, i'm merely saying that there is other things to criticise the football writer's beloved Arsenal for), The Daily Mail suggest that Tevez and Hargreaves will sit the game out, while Jonathan Northcroft in The Times takes a more statistical look at the differences:

Rooney has played 810 minutes – approaching 14 hours – less club football than Fabregas this season and 413 minutes – nearly seven hours – less than Emmanuel Adebayor. Alexander Hleb and Flamini, Wenger’s other main attacker/midfielders, have also been on the pitch significantly more than their Old Trafford counterparts. Michael Carrick, Ryan Giggs, Anderson and Scholes have played less than Rooney, in Scholes’s case just 2,000 minutes. That is more than a full day’s less football than Fabregas. Ferguson’s treatment of Giggs and Scholes in particular demonstrates how careful he is in looking after his men. Both players had a lot of pitch time at the start of the season, but as it has worn on they have been given more respite. Scholes has played the full 90 minutes in only seven of United’s past 16 matches. He was on the bench on Wednesday, and with United gliding to victory over Roma, he did not even bother warming up.

Other stories around today - a good interview with Carlos in The Telegraph:

''Of course I knew Real Madrid coaches don't usually stay for more than two or three years," said Queiroz, ''but I felt it was my big opportunity and had a strong belief. I had long conversations with Alex who told me that, although it was a tough job, I could do it - the only thing I would have to be careful about was the politics. Anything inside the four lines I could handle. And I must say we played fantastic football, as people have been kind enough to acknowledge since."

The Telegraph also reports that Ronaldo is about to sign a new contract worth quite a lot of money:

Ronaldo, who will play against Arsenal at Old Trafford today, is being offered a deal worth £40?million to keep him at the club until 2014. United manager Sir Alex Ferguson knows that the 22-year-old is the most sought-after player in the game. He was named player of the month for March and short-listed for the PFA Player of the Year on Friday.

And finally, the Daily Star has this non story about abusing Arsene Wenger:

A club spokesman told the Daily Star Sunday: “We have appealed to our supporters to stop this because, obviously, it is disgraceful and deplorable.

“And, to be fair, all of our organised fan groups agreed to back the club’s position and have appealed to fans not to do it.”

Whether that plea makes any difference today, when Arsenal bid to cut United’s lead at the top of the table, remains to be seen.