Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor have both been ruled out of Arsenal's trip to Liverpool as Sir Alex Ferguson insisted he has no problem with the Gunners fielding a weakened team at Anfield.

Liverpool will go back on top of the Premier League for at least 24 hours if they beat Arsenal tomorrow night with Manchester United not playing until Wednesday against Portsmouth. United face Arsenal in the Champions League semi-final first leg next week and, after both teams lost in the last four of the FA Cup this weekend, the match has taken on added significance.

Ferguson rested players as his team lost to Everton in the Cup, and, with the Gunners out of the title race, there will undoubtedly be a temptation from Arsene Wenger to do the same at Liverpool.

But the United boss said: “I'm not thinking about what team Arsenal might or might not field tomorrow. No matter what side Arsenal field, they will try.”

Adebayor misses the trip with a slight hamstring strain while Van Persie has a groin problem but Wenger will welcome back Bacary Sagna to his starting line-up.

The Arsenal manager also had a warning for Rafael Benitez ahead of the match as he told the Spaniard it was pointless getting into “mind games” with Ferguson.

He said: “I believe mind games were always overrated but it's part of our environment. It is impossible to measure how much impact it has. It's a little bit like advertising — it is needed but what impact it has on sales you never know.

“With mind games it's the same. I believe that it can have a negative impact rather than a positive impact.”

Liverpool assistant boss Sammy Lee today leapt to Benitez's defence following Ferguson's claims that the Anfield manager is arrogant.

Standing in for Benitez at Liverpool's press conference, Lee called Ferguson's comments “sad” and insisted he would never purposely disrespect another team.

He said: “One thing I will say is that Rafa is not arrogant — no way. I just think [the comments] are quite sad.”