Soccer News: Whenever Arsène Wenger and Alex Ferguson harp on about the fresh-faced teams they are building there is a faint implication that a grizzled Chelsea will seize up eventually. Old age, though, is as puny a threat to Jose Mourinho's plans as Arsenal and Manchester United themselves. Of the three, it was Chelsea who fielded the youngest line-up this week.
The side that faced West Ham on Monday had an average age of under 26. The figures for Wenger's and Ferguson's sides in Tuesday's insipid goalless draw were respectively 27 and a half and 26 and a half. The United and Arsenal managers are overstating their case.
It is indeed remarkable that Cesc Fabregas, at 18, has such Premiership experience with Arsenal. The callowness of Cristiano Ronaldo, 20, also makes it possible he will realise that learning how to cross the ball is far more relevant than brushing up on step-overs.
References to a player's youth, however, are generally made only to excuse deficiencies. Arjen Robben, arguably Chelsea's most devastating attacker, is only a year older than Ronaldo and younger than Jose Antonio Reyes, who still needs to be coddled at Arsenal.
Managers often call for patience to be shown to players of great potential in the hope that they can siphon off some of that tolerance for themselves. It is something of an indignity for rightly admired managers such as Ferguson and Wenger to recite the well-worn words but there is no alternative at the moment.
Ferguson has had to dust down the strategy. He talked of his "new team" before the home draw with Villarreal and argued, after Benfica had eliminated United from the Champions League, that "we are rebuilding, waiting for players to mature".
But the Glazers, who spent around £800 million to purchase the club, will want to know how soon a challenge to Chelsea can be mounted and the Americans do not need to have football genes to work out that United were nine points behind Mourinho's side at this stage last season and are currently 13 adrift.
The dwindling of United has come with the departure of David Beckham and the ageing of Paul Scholes. On Tuesday the superb Gary Neville remained at Highbury as a poignant reminder of the outstanding footballers produced at Old Trafford in one burst.
History is definitely not being repeated. Wayne Rooney really is a prodigy and Ronaldo has his moments but they both came at enormous expense.
The modern United, with one FA Cup to show from the past three years, have no traits in common with the "win nothing with kids" season of 1995-96 or the rip-roaring Premiership winners of 2000. While Ferguson is now struggling to save his skin, Wenger is battling to preserve his dignity and ease the pressure on Arsenal.
"We have the youngest team of the four," he said erroneously while thinking of Chelsea, United and Liverpool. It is inconceivable that the Frenchman could be dismissed. Everyone appreciates Arsenal's resources are constrained, particularly when the available cash is being poured into a new stadium, but there can be no guarantee that he will take the club back to the heights.
While faith can be placed in Fabregas, Mathieu Flamini cannot be classed as a new Patrick Vieira and Reyes is no equivalent to Robert Pires in his heyday. Dennis Bergkamp's retirement is imminent and talisman Thierry Henry may move on in the summer.
Chelsea have been getting stronger but they are aided, too, by the decline of their rivals. So far as Arsenal are concerned, the invincible season has come to seem like the final magnificent gesture of a team that had just fulfilled itself.
