Arsene Wenger was smiling as he talked about Henrik Larsson yesterday but he must have been only half joking when he said the striker still gave him "nightmares". When Arsenal's manager comes up against Larsson tomorrow it will be for the first time since the Swede destroyed what had looked like becoming one of Wenger's most famous nights.

Arsenal were leading Barcelona 1-0 in the Champions League final in Paris last May, despite being down to 10 men, when Larsson replaced Mark van Bommel in the 61st minute and played a huge part in turning the match.

A quarter of an hour later his flick set up Samuel Eto'o to score the first goal Arsenal had conceded in the competition in 995 minutes. Then his reverse pass enabled Juliano Belletti to strike Barcelona's winner and leave Wenger and Arsenal shattered.

Larsson had announced it would be his final game for the Catalan club before rejoining Helsingborgs and Wenger never imagined him testing Arsenal's defence at the Emirates Stadium in a Manchester United shirt.

He saw the amusing side when asked whether the name Larsson brought back bad memories. "Not bad memories, nightmares," he said. "But he is a player I like a lot. I like first of all his intelligence and I like his team attitude."

When Wenger said he thought Larsson had finished at the top, it was meant as a compliment. Larsson has shown in two games at Old Trafford that he carries a threat, not least with his debut goal against Aston Villa. Wenger was taken by surprise when United struck a short-term loan deal for the striker.

"He said he never would (come back from Sweden)," Wenger said. "I thought as well, frankly, that his time was over at 35 to still play up front. It is amazing - he'll beat (Teddy) Sheringham."

With Arsenal trailing United by 15 points, tomorrow's meeting lacks the intensity of many of their matches over recent years. Animosity between Wenger and Alex Ferguson has also cooled, even if they will never be close.

"Let's say it's been worse," Wenger said of their relationship. "The fact that Chelsea came in took a bit of the focus off Arsenal and United. Before the last two years a game between Manchester United and Arsenal was a game nobody could afford to lose. Now, even if you lose one, there is still Chelsea, and Liverpool have joined in."

Wenger misses the atmosphere that used to surround head-to-heads with Ferguson. "I like intensity," he said. There would be more now had Arsenal not tossed away so many points unexpectedly. After a 1-0 victory at Old Trafford in September, Wenger did not expect to be 15 points behind United.

"They have been more consistent against the smaller teams," he said. "We lost against Fulham, Manchester City and Sheffield United, which they didn't. But if you look at the stronger teams and compare the results of the two of us we're not behind anybody. It's a big frustration."

That was a reference to Arsenal's wins over United and Liverpool and draw at Chelsea. Wenger, who gave Robin van Persie an 80 per cent chance of overcoming an ankle injury, believes his team's belief would be further strengthened by a win tomorrow.

"We want absolutely to win, I tell you. We love to win, we want to reduce the gap from United as quickly as possible and we want to continue our run because we're in good form . . . We beat them over there and can beat them at home as well."

While Wenger maintained he would not strengthen his squad during the transfer window he still allowed veteran full-back Lauren to join Portsmouth.

Wenger felt he had to allow him to leave to continue the development of youngsters Emmanuel Eboue and Justin Hoyte. During the right-back's long recent injury lay-off, the likes of Eboue (23) and Hoyte (22) have been handed a regular taste of first-team action.

The Arsenal manager said: "I lost a fantastic player. I would like to pay tribute to him because he was amazing for the club.

"Lauren was not only a player with quality and experience, but also a fantastic guy who was mentally very strong. But he was out for nine months. Eboue and Hoyte played.

"Do I stop their development and play Lauren? Or do I let him go somewhere else? I had to make that kind of decision."

Guardian Service