ABOUT a week without weakness is what they crave. Having held their championship challenges together impressively over nine punishing months, Arsenal and Manchester United now find that eight crowded days in May will decide whether their reward is to be glory or gall. The leaders in the Grand National of football have reached the Elbow, it looks like being a photo-finish and both must dread faltering on the charge to the line. It may be hell for the participants but it is marvellous fun for the rest of us. When did a title struggle last engage the emotions of so many neutrals?
Perhaps part of the explanation of the high level of excitement generated is that where United are concerned genuine neutrals are thin on the ground. They are at once the most popular and the most unpopular team in the country. For every enthusiast who is willing them on towards an outrageous treble of successes in the League, the FA Cup and the European Cup, there is at least one ill-wisher who wants their aspirations buried so that some gleeful dancing can be done on the grave. Paranoia is sometimes evident in the inhabitants of Old Trafford and its effects can be disturbing. But it would be silly to deny that they are the targets of a deep and widespread antipathy.
The roots of such feeling among the supporters of other clubs are complex, and it has been around too long to be attributed to resentment of the exploitative corporate values that have recently brought more than a hint of Thatcherite soullessness to the United boardroom. Only the grotesquely prejudiced would link the distasteful attitudes of the men in suits with the current players, who could scarcely play with more soul if they were coached by James Brown. No doubt when it comes to the polarised sentiments evoked by United, the best response, for Alex Ferguson and everybody else, is to avoid taking them too seriously. It is, in the main, a pretty shallow form of hatred that is stirred by sport (the Celtic-Rangers madness originated far away from football) and when it shows, the best way to regard it is as providing a special frisson at the heart of our strangely passionate involvement with boyish pastimes.
Of course, for any of us brought up in thrall to football it will be hard to accept that what is happening in Middlesbrough, Leeds, Blackburn, London and Manchester between this afternoon and next Sunday is just a game. For the fans of Arsenal and United, it will be like eight days in the dentist's chair. So who will be left numb come Sunday evening? Even the bookmakers cannot agree about that. William Hill quote both Arsenal and United at 5-6 but Ladbrokes have installed Arsenal as clear favourites at 4-6, with United at evens. The betting reflects the fact that the championship has rarely been contested by two teams with such equality of strengths. Mathematically, Chelsea remain contenders but anybody who fancies their chances should keep his money in his pocket. The real question is whether the gathering momentum of Arsenal, and the ability to score freely that they have added late to this season's armoury, can be withstood by rivals whose flamboyant stride has begun to stutter.
Ferguson acknowledges that the London club "grasped the nettle" by reacting positively to the advantage created for his own team by their relentless pursuit of goals throughout the campaign, though he emphasises that a difference in philosophy can be identified in the substantial discrepancy which persists in the goals-for columns. If he naturally believes that such unstinting commitment to entertaining aggression gives United an extra right to the title, his respect for Arsenal is immense, especially when he talks of the spirit spread through the ranks by a player he has consistently admired, Tony Adams. He thinks that, amid all the rich skills Arsenal can call upon, nothing has been more crucial to their challenge than the priceless animal drive imparted by Adams and Patrick Vieira.
It is difficult to quibble with the assessment. Adams is the core example and inspiration of a defence where the only relevance age seems to have is that it guarantees experience. And Vieira is, in my view, quite simply one of the two or three most influential presences in the Premiership. Emmanuel Petit contributes hugely to the exceptional authority of Arsenal's midfield but even he is less vital to the sense of rolling forward with an almost irresistible power that they convey at their best. Vieira - with his bodily strength and long-legged athleticism, and the comprehensive soundness and surprising delicacy of his technique - invariably makes opponents tired of the sight of him in both halves of the pitch. He gives them no respite, competing like a demon. At 22, his value to Arsène Wenger is hard to exaggerate.
Another key source of Arsenal's increasingly convincing form in recent weeks has been the still younger Frenchman, Nicolas Anelka. Since Anelka is just 20, the ragbag of whims, complaints and petulant grudges that he empties on the public from time to time can be forgiven. Arsenal supporters will tolerate much worse from him if he continues to apply his electric pace and the sureness of his touch to the scoring of important goals. They will applaud all the more if the look of adolescent sourness that was too frequently on his face is permanently replaced by the smiles that have become common lately.
Understandably, many outsiders have been asking themselves if Anelka has been healthily contaminated by the unmistakable joy derived from playing football by his new ally, Nwankwo Kanu. The acquisition of the Nigerian for £4m from Inter Milan at the beginning of the year was a move entirely in keeping with the intelligence Wenger brings to the handling and adjustment of his squad. Kanu's capacity for achieving wonders of virtuosity with his elongated frame and vast feet has freshened Arsenal's attack precisely when such a boost was needed. If they take the title, the African with the captivating grin will be due plenty of credit.
Obviously, however, Manchester United are quite capable of blasting that dream apart. There could be significance in the loss to Arsenal through injury of the excellent Ray Parlour, a blow which may yet balance that suffered by United when Ryan Giggs went on the casualty list in the epic FA Cup victory over the Highbury men in mid-April. Parlour's vigorous penetrations along the right flank have figured prominently in the surge of scoring that has thrust his team to the top of the league. Their chances of getting the results they require to maintain their edge in goal-difference will be harmed by his absence. But if they can prosper at Elland Road on Tuesday, they will be optimistic of clinching the prize by battering Aston Villa in north London next Sunday.
As Ferguson prepared yesterday to head for Middlesbrough and the assignment this afternoon that will launch a three-match quest for goals, he was considering the possibility of starting with Teddy Sheringham as Dwight Yorke's striking partner. But Andy Cole has been looking sharper in training than he did at Anfield on Wednesday night and some part for him in the action is probable. Depending on how the manager feels Middlesbrough's resistance can best be broken down, Nicky Butt for Jesper Blomqvist might be another option. Ferguson had stopped talking about that penalty David Elleray awarded to Liverpool in midweek. Had he decided belatedly that the most appropriate acknowledgment of a prodigious feat of imagination was silent awe? Perhaps not.
