Source: Daily_Mail
Sir Alex Ferguson says Manchester United's Wayne Rooney is ready to fire against old enemy Arsenal
Manchester United are hotly anticipating the 'Second Coming' of Wayne Rooney tomorrow night against the same opposition that saw him first explode on to the scene as a 16-year-old.[LNB]Rooney's stunning volley past Arsenal's David Seaman for Everton in 2002 marked the start of a path to superstardom that appeared seamless until spectacularly hitting the buffers this year due to scandal, injuries, a disastrous World Cup and a clumsy threat to quit Old Trafford.[LNB] Something to prove: Rooney has failed to score in open play since March[LNB]Incredibly, Rooney has failed to score in open play for his club since March an extraordinary statistic after his 34-goal haul last season. But having seen his striker return from a boot camp in America to get fit and put in impressive displays against Blackburn and Valencia, Sir Alex Ferguson feels the visit of Arsenal could ignite his and United's season.[LNB]'Wayne's training performances have been terrific, absolutely brilliant,' said Ferguson. 'He was absolutely brilliant in our last two games. We are glad.[LNB]'The decision to send him out to Oregon was 100 per cent correct. He is looking really good now because of the intensity of the work there. I wanted him to be single-minded in what he was there to achieve, which was to do intense work and get his fitness levels up. [LNB]Happier times: Sir Alex says Rooney has been firing on all cylinders in training[LNB]'The next two games are big (United go to Chelsea next). He will look forward to them and enjoy them, there is no doubt about that. There are great signs he is getting there.'[LNB]Rooney's two goals for United this season have come from the penalty spot and although his spot-kick at Rangers was celebrated like a World Cup winner as he finally won United fans around again after his contract saga, Ferguson knows he needs Rooney to start scoring all sorts of goals if United are to win the tightest title race in years. [LNB]'Berbatov went 10 games without scoring and then scored five, so it can change with one goal,' he said. [LNB]'Hopefully that happens on Monday because he's got a great scoring record against Arsenal. He has always been the kind of striker who goes on scoring runs. [LNB]Last season, with experience, he became a consistent goalscorer. 'He missed games towards the end of the season with injury, which probably cost us the league. That was a big loss to us because his goal tally up until then was great. [LNB]'The goals will happen again for him, there's no question about it. I'm not in the slightest bit worried about it.'[LNB]Arsene Wenger has suffered more than mostmanagers from Rooney, starting with that goal in 2002 which saw the Arsenal manager immediately hail him as the best English talent he had seen in his time in the Premier League.[LNB]After moving to United in 2004, Rooney scored his first Premier League goal for the club in a 2-0 win against Arsenal that ended their record 49-game unbeaten run. He also scored his 100th Premier League goal against the Gunners and was inspirational in a famous 3-1 Champions League win at The Emirates in 2009.[LNB] MANCHESTER UNITED
