Manchester United's Roy Keane is winning his fitness fight to face Arsenal on Wednesday at Highbury. Keane was forced to come off in the 6-2 victory against Newcastle, however, manager Alex Ferguson believes he will be fit for the game. "Roy should be OK. There is some bruising after a dead leg but hopefully he will be all right," Ferguson told the Manchester Evening News.
Ferguson is still facing a selection headache as David Beckham, Ryan Giggs and Wes Brown all have hamstring strains while John O'Shea has a knee injury. Goalkeeper Fabien Barthez will have a foot problem assessed after stubbing his toe at Newcastle. Ferguson said: "It's a sore one and we don't know yet whether it's broken. We'll see if he's going to need a scan or an X-ray."
Meanwhile, Ferguson has insisted that his skipper will show he has not lost the combative qualities that he has based his game on for so long, if he lines out for United in the potential Premiership title decider. Much has been made of Keane's 'new approach' to his game and his lack of box-to-box play after his return from surgery in the summer. However, despite a lacklustre display from the former Irish international during last week's 3-1 Champions League defeat at the hands of Real Madrid, Ferguson believes that Keane will show he can still battle against Arsenal.
Speaking about United's game with Real, Ferguson said: "It (the criticism) was unfair because 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 but he is in the midstream of changing his game a little bit and he found it difficult in the first half. He needs to be in a fight, 'me against you'. The Arsenal game on Wednesday will suit him more because there will be battles all over the pitch."
Filed by Rob Wright
