Mr Invincible: Unbeaten record on the horizon for Rooney, but he's putting the team first

If Manchester United can avoid losing in their remaining six league games, Rooney will have gone through the entire Premier League campaign unbeaten — just as Arsenal's Invincibles did in 2003-04.

The England striker will play his 23rd league game of the season against Middlesbrough today, having won 19 and drawn three of the previous 22. To illustrate his impact on United, the team have lost four of the 10 league matches he has missed.

The bad news for United's title rivals is that while some of them might be feeling burn-out after an arduous season, Rooney is back in the goals and feeling fresher than ever.

'I've missed a few games through injury this season and though it's not something I wanted it's helping me now as we come towards the end of the season,' he said.

'I love the Champions League but the Premier League is still the major trophy to win for me. It's the competition I grew up on watching Everton when I was younger.'

Well-schooled in manager Sir Alex Ferguson's philosophy that there is no 'I in team', Rooney is hoping to be an 'Invincible' for reasons other than personal gratification.

'I want to go unbeaten for the rest of the season because it means we will have a great chance of winning the league,' he said. 'That's the most important thing for me — winning trophies for the team. Individual things aren't something to be concerned about.

'We are doing very well at the minute. The defence have been brilliant all season. If they carry on keeping clean sheets, I'm sure us front players will keep winning the games for us.'

United, however, will have to be on their mettle today against a Middlesbrough side who seem to specialise in getting results against the big teams.

'We've always had a knack of getting results against the top sides,' said defender Luke Young, who revealed how Gareth Southgate's men were fired up by a crisis meeting after their FA Cup quarter-final defeat by Cardiff.

'We had a meeting after the Cardiff defeat,' he said. 'It was all the staff and the players and we cleared a few things up. We had to do it.

'We could not let it fester. You can't ignore things going wrong, especially with the position we were in in the league. It was a good meeting and there were a lot of positives that came out of it.'

But today is likely to be all about United and Rooney, who also has a big incentive to get past Roma in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

Three years ago, the boyhood Everton fan watched as Liverpool became European champions for a fifth time with one of the most remarkable comebacks in history against AC Milan in Istanbul. He later revealed how it had made him feel 'sick'.

Now comes the chance for Rooney to make some history of his own.