'We're not favourites but I'm confident'

Wojciech Szczesny returns to the scene of his Premier League debut on Sunday - and this time he's confident of leaving Old Trafford with the points.

The Polish goalkeeper acquitted himself well when he was handed his first top-flight start at Manchester United in December 2010, making a string of impressive stops as Arsenal lost a tight game 1-0.

Szczesny has kept clean sheets against Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund in the past week and he is backing the in-form Gunners to extend their eight-point lead over the champions.

"We know it's going to be very tough - no one goes to Old Trafford as favourites - but we'll be confident," said Szczesny.

"I think you always respect Man United for the team that they are. They are very strong, especially at home. You always look forward to playing at Old Trafford but you know it's never going to be easy - we've not had a great record there as well.

"A win will send a message that we have been sending for a long time now - that we want to challenge for a trophy, we're up for it, we're confident. But let's talk about that after the game. Now we just want to focus on our performance and make sure we are at our very best. If we do so then we have a very good chance.

"Possibly [there is more pressure on Man United] because we are five points clear at top of the table. I don't like to say that but we could possibly afford a slip-up - I hope we won't but there's probably more pressure on them because they have to catch up. We will try to take advantage of it.

"I remember making my Premier League debut there and I managed to concede eight somehow a year after so it's quite a special ground for me. I've not had a good result there yet so I'll be looking forward to going there and getting the result.

"But my debut was a very exciting game for me - I didn't expect to be playing at all, Lukasz [Fabianski] got injured a day or two before the game so I didn't know anything about it. But I enjoyed it."

Victories over Liverpool and Dortmund have brought Arsenal's defensive resilience into focus and Szczesny believes the whole team deserves credit for that.

"I think it's the whole shape of the team," he said. "You don't rely on your goalkeeper or the back four. It's the whole team - the shape from up front, the midfielders.

"Obviously we've had [Mathieu] Flamini who did exceptionally well for us in defensive midfield. Mikel [Arteta] since he came back has been doing the job very well so I think it's the shape of the whole team that makes the defence so much better."