Ace Ruud the trump card, says Stapleton

Match of the season: Hero who played for both clubs fears Arsenal's overreliance on Henry could be damaging

Fifteen years of service as an accomplished centre-forward with Arsenal and Manchester United entitle Frank Stapleton to conflicting feelings about Wednesday's potentially decisive Premiership meeting between the clubs at Highbury. These days, the 46-year-old Dubliner is supposed to put emotions aside and study his former teams with the objective eye of the television analyst; but despite having seen plenty of both in that role recently, he is only prepared to adjudicate between them with heavy reservations.

Arsenal, he believes, are marginal favourites to retain their championship title on account of playing this key game on their own patch, having a slightly easier run for home and possessing a superior goal difference. Yet he acknowledges that home advantage has not always been crucial in the recent past (see panel, right) and Arsenal's superiority of goals was almost wiped out by United's 4-0 romp over the 10 men of Liverpool last week, followed by yesterday's stunning victory at Newcastle.

So bets are being hedged when he concludes of Wednesday's encounter: "There's really not much between the teams. It's a matter of who can perform on the day, outperform their opponent. And whoever wins the midfield battle wins the match."

Stapleton was Arsenal through and through for nine years after starting an apprenticeship there in 1972. "I have a fantastic affinity with the club. They taught me the game," he says. In return, he played exactly 300 first-team matches, scoring 108 goals, before Ron Atkinson's persuasive ways talked him into joining a becalmed United rather than Liverpool. Having helped defeat United at Wembley in 1979, he made amends four years later by becoming the first player to score in the FA Cup final for two different winning teams, and left Old Trafford with 246 appearances and two Cup-winner's medals to his name.

Still a regular visitor, he does not believe they have been at their best, despite a show of determination in hauling themselves back into a championship chase that seemed lost when Arsenal led them by five points: "I've seen quite a bit of United for MUTV and although they haven't dropped many points, I don't think they've been playing all that smoothly. Yet you feel there's more to come."

In analysing the sides, department by department, however, he gives United an edge in defence, despite the pounding they took last Wednesday from the incomparable talents of Raul, Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo and the rest: "The back four or five was an Achilles heel last season, with the number of goals let in [45 to Arsenal's 36]. This season they've looked more solid. Rio Ferdinand missed some games at the start but then came back well; Wes Brown came in and has been outstanding, which is good to see, because he's had terrible luck with injuries. Gary Neville is someone you can depend on, and Mikaël Silvestre is more impressive every year. The goalkeeper's not made many mistakes and they've now got the best defensive record in the country." In contrast, Arsenal have clearly suffered from recent injuries to Martin Keown and Ashley Cole.

And what does an old striker make of the respective merits of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Thierry Henry, widely regarded as front-runners for the various player-of-the-year titles? "There was a lot of build-up about them before the League match at Old Trafford before Christmas, and funnily enough both were disappointing on the day, well held by the defences. They're different players, of course – Van Nistelrooy is a box-player while Henry wanders out wide. For me the difference in finishing is that Ruud doesn't waste a lot of chances.

"Thierry's a wonderful player, very creative and does a lot of different things, but maybe there's too much onus on him to get the goals for Arsenal. That's what happened in the Champions' League, there were a lot of chances wasted in nearly all the games. When you're the main striker, people look first and foremost to you, but other players have got to get their numbers up as well."

There is a view that Henry benefits from having Francis Jeffers right up alongside him, rather than Dennis Bergkamp lying deep. But having thrived in his prime alongside the muscular aggression of men like Malcolm Macdonald and Norman Whiteside, Stapleton believes that a wolf in the box might be better than the foxy Jeffers: "I've said for a couple of years that maybe what's missing is an English-style centre-forward, someone a bit more aggressive and physical who can win more in the air." The old pro in him has also picked up on a hitherto unnoticed tendency in Patrick Vieira, who for many people's money has been as instrumental as Henry in Arsenal's push for another Double. "He's had some fantastic first-half performances, then second half was less effective. In the Ajax games, for instance, he was so influential early on. Then teams put a man-marker on him and he didn't get the ball."

In the Old Trafford FA Cup tie two months ago, several United men seemed to be taking instructions to "mark" the Arsenal captain rather literally. To be fair, Roy Keane was not an offender on that occasion, but as ever his contribution will be crucial. It is a difficult time of adjustment to a more measured game following last autumn's hip operation, Sir Alex Ferguson warning graphically: "It's hard to take the animal out of the animal. He's mentally trying to change himself, and you hope he can modify his game a bit, but some periods he forgets."

Ferguson said after the Madrid game: "The stick he took was unfair. I played him in a position which was difficult for him. Once he got into the battle in the second half he was much better. He needs to be in the battle, me against you. The Arsenal game will suit him more because there will be battles all over the pitch."

Stapleton, the captain's fellow Irishman, says: "For a couple of games after coming back he was labouring a bit, and I don't think he was quite right, but to expect him to be the same again would be unfair. He'll probably end up at centre-back and he can get everyone going again."

Centre-back was where Keane finished in Madrid amid a disjointed United performance in the face of world-class opposition. The lesson from last week may be that neither of England's leading teams are yet the Real deal in Europe. But there is enough at stake to forget that for 90 minutes on Wednesday night.

Clashes of The Titans

15 February 2003

FA Cup fifth round: Man Utd 0 Arsenal 2
Edu (35min), Wiltord (51). Att: 67,209

Failing to intimidate their visitors with a series of wild early challenges, United suffered one of the misses of the season – Ryan Giggs shooting over an open goal – and finished well beaten. Arsenal even rested Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp ahead of an important Champions' League game with Ajax.

7 December 2002

Premiership: Man Utd 2 Arsenal 0
Veron (22), Scholes (73). 67,650

Arsène Wenger was forced to admit that United won the 50-50 tackles and "wanted it more" as they cut the gap on his team to three points. With David Beckham and Roy Keane injured, Phil Neville was outstanding as a midfield enforcer, and Juan Sebastian Veron had one of his best games since joining the club.

8 May 2002

Premiership: Man Utd 0 Arsenal 1
Wiltord (57). 67,580

A famous date in Arsenal history, still commemorated in song: "We won the League at Old Trafford, we won the League in Man-ches-ter." Coming only four days after the beating of Chelsea in the FA Cup final at the Millennium Stadium, a 12th successive victory also secured a second Double for Wenger in five seasons.

25 November 2001

Premiership: Arsenal 3 Man Utd 1
Ljungberg (48), Henry (80, 85); Scholes (14). 38,174.

Two ghastly errors by Fabien Barthez in the last 10 minutes handed victory to the home side, though Liverpool remained top of the table. Thierry Henry was the grateful recipient of a sliced clearance and then a failure to hold a through-pass. United, sixth in the table, were reported to be "closing in" on Sir Alex Ferguson's successor.