All the footprints you've ever left and fear expecting ahead (Arsenal)

There's a great quote in this report:

Ferguson is infamous for throwing in a strategic red herring when it comes to United's key games and once warned journalists "never try to read the mind of a madman" when it came to his team selections.

And so I'm not going to try, but I also think this is true of the game as a whole. I think it's one of those games in which anything could happen. It could be a drab affair where two teams cancel each other out and the occasion makes defending a priority, or it could be a game of attacking flair, a game of many chances where the game lives up to the occasion and all the prematch talk of it as the "perfect tie". Obviously that would be nice, but the most important thing is to actually win the game, well if possible.
Here's an interesting, and comforting, stat from The BBC:

United have never been knocked out of European competition by an English club; The Gunners have never progressed from a European tie against another English club. They lost 3-2 on aggregate against Chelsea in a 2003-04 Champions League quarter-final and lost 5-3 to Liverpool at the same stage last season.

As to team selection, Sir Alex confirmed a few things:

John O'Shea will replace Rafael da Silva following the Brazilian's raw performance against Tottenham. Ferguson conceded the teenager has still to develop the positional sense of playing at right-back. "We expect that – he is only 18 and that's young for a defender."

And the way he talked about Evra he'll definitely be starting. So the back 4 (and VDS) are pretty certain (throw in Vidic and Ferdinand). It's further forward where things get interesting:

Talking ahead of what he described as "the perfect semi-final", Ferguson said he was reminded of the thrilling quality of his opponents when Arsenal beat United 2-1 at the Emirates in November. "There will be more vigilance this time in terms of not losing a goal, particularly on your own ground," he added. "That will be the key to it. We need to win without losing a goal, put it that way."

Yet the manager later returned to the idea of carrying straight on from how the game finished against Tottenham and, at the very least, it would be unsurprising to see his four most dangerous players on the pitch together at some point of the second half. "Listen, football is all about taking risks," Ferguson said. "You can see how we've risked over the years. It's a part of Manchester United. You've got to risk to win games – it's not a problem for me, that. It's always worth it to win a game."

United, Ferguson said, had been "unstoppable" once he had gambled on Saturday. "The energy of Tevez electrified us and Rooney weighed in with a ­brilliance that ran through the whole team," he said. "There were two goals for Wayne, two for Cristiano and Dimitar responded to over-the-top criticism with a class performance."

So which will it be, the vigilance or the risk taking? My money's on the vigilance. Playing Tevez, Rooney, Berbatov and Ronaldo would certainly be a romantic propostion, but unless we go a goal or two down I don't really see it happening. I can maybe see Rooney and Giggs occupying similar roles to the ones they had against Porto with Ronaldo and Berbatov upfront. In fact it occurs to me that I'm basically picking the same team that we had against Porto, and considering the performance in that game, I'm not sure that that would be a bad thing.
Some facts from The BBC, one I hadn't realised:

Wayne ROONEY is the only member of United's squad to have played in all 10 CL matches this season.

Yellow card watch:

ROONEY and Patrice EVRA will miss the second leg of this semi-final if they receive a yellow card.

Which must leave the awful prospect of Rooney getting booked in the second leg and missing the final... Arsenal in a worse position in this respect:

Robin VAN PERSIE, Alexandre SONG, Abou DIABY and Samir NASRI will miss the second leg of this semi-final if they receive a yellow card.

As well as being Giggs' 800th Man Utd game (if selected) other landmarks:

If involved, Cristiano RONALDO will play in his 50th Champions League match. He made his debut on 1 October 2003 in Manchester United's 2-1 defeat at VfB Stuttgart.

Manchester United trio Edwin VAN DER SAR, Paul SCHOLES and Ryan GIGGS can all play in their sixth CL semi-final. Claude MAKELELE is the record holder, having played in eight semi-finals.

SCHOLES and GIGGS will be the first players ever to play in six CL semi-finals for the same club.

And so to the prediction. Man Utd 2 Arsenal 1. I see Arsenal scoring, but I think we'll take attacking momentum into the game from Saturday and ultimately win the game.