After having experienced his Sunderland team losing at both Manchester United and Arsenal, Roy Keane believes his former club still have the edge over Arsene Wenger's men. No justification needed. He just feels United are probably "just a touch ahead".

Is that sentimentality or is Keane on to something? For the first time since what seems like forever, Manchester United finally looked like the real deal and thumped four past the helpless Wigan. Of course, Wigan set out their game plan to frustrate Sir Alex Ferguson’s army, packing 10 men behind the ball. And for most of the game they didn’t seem in the least bit interested in making a contest of the game, even when they went a goal down. It seemed like after Carlos Tevez’s strike, Wigan just simply panicked and surrendered to the inevitable drubbing.
Which is exactly the sort of thing you expect to happen when 'weaker' teams face United.

In the past, they have always exhibited their ruthless side in exactly the same way – by picking apart and severely punishing teams that are afraid of them. This is the foundation on which they build their formidable reputation. It's nice to win 1-0, but teams, however weak they are, know that being a goal down always gives them a chance. A lucky break or bounce of the ball and all is undone.

'Wigan just simply panicked and surrendered to the inevitable drubbing. Which is exactly the sort of thing you expect to happen when 'weaker' teams face United'


But to read in the papers how ruthless Manchester United are and how small they made you look is to ensure any opposing team not only walk away with their tails between their legs but with their shrivelled privates in their hands. This sort of intended intimidation against opponents is what made Sir Alex a god for so long in one of the most demanding clubs in the world.

The result against Wigan is a signal that United are starting to gel. And this is not good news for opponents who are left clinging on to the words of the detractors who said that Tevez and Wayne Rooney couldn’t play together. They are finding themselves reaching for the mustard to flavour the words they now have to eat while the likes of Tevez, Nani, Anderson, Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo roar on.

This is Sir Alex at his best, allowing his opponents a glimpse of belief and then ruthlessly snuffing it out.

The series of 1-0 wins United ground out was an aberration, Saturday's scoreline is the precursor of things to come. This is where the now-famous United intimidation factor kicks in. I can see Sir Alex standing in front of his players goading all the managers to come with a smug “I’ll-see-your-humiliated- face-splashed-all-over-back-pages-tomorrow-after-I-trounce-your-team” smile.

Keane would be the first to appreciate this attitude. He would do the same at the Stadium of Light if he could. And its no wonder Keane doesn’t appreciate what Wenger has done at Arsenal.

Arsene hasn’t gone for the flamboyant trial-and-error approach strategy. Instead, he has been a lot more methodical in his development. This approach may have been productive for Arsenal in the early part of this season, but the run-up to this fruition has shown his team’s vulnerabilities as well.

Over the course of the last few seasons, Roy would have noticed that there isn’t that air of confidence over Arsenal that there was at United. It has always been a criticism of Arsene’s team that they were like prima donnas delivering a fine opera. Enjoyable, but they would get upset and rattled by a heckler in the crowd hell-bent on destroying their performance. So the likes of the more proletariat Fulham, Sheffiled United, Bolton and Everton all embarrassed Wenger’s team in the past.

United, Keane would have thought, would never show such weakness. I’m sure he would have thought that no United team  would throw away a two-goal lead - which probably explains why he felt that despite Arsenal being on top, United have the edge. Teams facing United are inherently scared. Teams facing Arsenal are not. And Sunderland coming within a whisker of beating the aristocrats on Sunday doesn’t help instil this fear factor in Arsenal.

Arsenal need to kill off games. And they need to do that in a manner that terrifies the next opponent. The next visitors to Old Trafford will know what United did to Wigan. And in all likelihood they will set up their team strategy to prevent humiliation rather than to make a contest of the game. In this way, the game is already half won.

Arsenal’s best result this season was the 5-0 drubbing of Derby. It’s a start but as most pundits will tell you, it doesn’t help that the result came so close to Derby’s 4-0 drubbing by Spurs and 6-0 hiding by Liverpool.  This Arsenal side has grown up over the last three years and maybe they will be genuine championship contenders this season.

But at the back of most fans and managers' minds, it’s going to take consistent 5-0 drubbings of clubs in the bottom half of the table before they will fear coming to the Emirates Stadium.

Is Keano right - do United have the edge over Arsenal when it comes to disposing of lesser lights? Post a comment below or submit an article to Sportingo.