Keane puts pressure on Styles

14 April 2012

Roy Keane today promised an "explosive" FA Cup Final against Arsenal on Saturday but both he and Sir Alex Ferguson insisted that passions wouldn't flare out of control in English football's biggest grudge encounter.

Manchester United captain Keane, asked if he feared the rivalry between the two sides might lead to matters getting out of hand at the Millennium Stadium, played down the fears but reckoned that referee Rob Styles would have a key role to play.

"I think things will be okay," said Keane. "Obviously, it's up to the referee. He's got to be tough but hopefully players won't get carried away and will focus on the game.

"It's going to be a hard game physically, a tough one, but hopefully the referee will handle anything that might get out of control.

"Over the years, we've always seen Arsenal as our biggest rivals ahead of Chelsea and Liverpool and others. I know the FA Cup Final can sometimes be an anti-climax, but I don't think this one will. I think it will be pretty explosive, to be honest." As for whether his own confrontation with Patrick Vieira, hyped up again this week by the Arsenal midfielder's revelations about their tunnel bust-up at Highbury in February, might prove key, Keane just shrugged: "We'll see. It's a team game but if some people see that as a key part, then maybe it is but there'll be individual battles all over the park."

Asked whether he was relishing the confrontation with Vieira, he added: "I like playing against any top player and he's one of the top players."

Ferguson backed his skipper's comments, insisting: "I'm not concerned at all that there'll be problems. I think the game will start as it did at Highbury and Old Trafford, a bit feisty.

"You've got to remember they're human beings and there'll be some nerves at the start, but once the game settles down I think it will be fine."

The United manager added: "You can't control the media exposure today surrounding our matches, but actually I don't think the games between the two sides are any different to what they were 10 years ago."

Ferguson's major concerns at the moment are injuries to his first-choice full-backs, Gabriel Heinze and Gary

Neville. Heinze is almost certainly out with an ankle injury, but the flare-up of a groin problem for Neville has caused a fresh headache for the manager.

"Gary is a definite concern," he said. "We've got medical people working on him to give him a chance, but it's not looking good."

This may turn out to be a Fergie mind game, however, as Neville was at the club's Carrington complex for a work-out with the team.

Ferguson was certainly upset to be without Heinze. He said: "It's Gaby Heinze I feel particularly sorry for. He doesn't want to be ruled out at this time but I don't see him playing, which is disappointing because he's been fantastic this season. He deserves to play in the final but I think that's beyond him now."

Heinze's absence is likely to see Mikael Silvestre start at left-back, with Wes Brown partnering Rio Ferdinand in central defence.

Ferguson thinks Saturday's match has all the makings of a classic. "If you look at the last 10 years, Arsenal and United have been competing for the trophies all the time and it's been an incredible, fantastic competition between two clubs. I don't think it will be any different on Saturday.

"I know it doesn't always work out in Cup Finals - there were fantastic players on the pitch when we played Liverpool [in 1996] and it was a massive disappointment - but Saturday should be a great game because there are enough great players on both teams to make it a great Cup Final."

Keane, looking for a fifth winners' medal, added: "It's not about me and how many medals I might have won. It's about the club trying to win.

"If we pick up one piece of silverware we'll be happy even if we always do judge ourselves on the league and the Champions League."

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Keane puts pressure on Styles

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