Sir Alex Ferguson believes that Arsenal's young players are good enough to stop Manchester United from retaining the Barclays Premier League title this season. The United manager takes his team to Aston Villa tomorrow bidding to keep within touching distance of Arsenal, who are top of the table after an impressive, unbeaten start to the campaign.

Players such as Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie and Denilson have caught Ferguson's eye and the United manager believes that Arsene Wenger's team are good enough to stop United from from winning their tenth Premier League title.

"The title race is still open, but Arsenal have made a great start and you can't deny that," Ferguson said. "And in Arsene Wenger they have a manager who has been there before and they also have the players who done it as well. Kolo Toure and Gilberto Silva know how to win the title, so the inexperience of some of their younger players won't be a handicap.

"Some of the youngsters haven't experienced it before, but the same could be said of some of our players last year and we led the Premiership for three-quarters of a season. We have missed players this season through injury, but we have got on with it and won games, so everything is coming together well."

United travel to Villa Park having had seven players away on international duty during the week, with several suffering disappointing results that either ended or left their qualification hopes hanging by a thread. Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand played in the 2-1 defeat against Russia in Moscow on Wednesday that has severely dented England's hopes of reaching Euro 2008 next summer, but Ferguson insists his players are capable of shrugging off the disappointment.

"I haven't spoken to any of the England players because I have plenty on my plate getting the team ready for the Villa game," Ferguson said. "The great thing about football is that you always have the next game to get over it and, if it comes quickly, then even better.

"England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland all had disappointing results in midweek, but the lads are grown men and they can get over it. I actually thought that Wayne Rooney was England's best player in Moscow - he played really well. The penalty he gave away was simply down to his eagerness to help the team. He didn't haul the player down. The Russian boy took advantage and it was outside the box. Wayne's goal was tremendous, though, and hopefully he is back on one of his runs now."

Ferguson will be without Owen Hargreaves at as the England midfield player is still two weeks away from a comeback after a knee injury. Gary Neville and Louis Saha will also be sidelined again, but John O'Shea, Nemanja Vidic and Edwin van der Sar should be ready to return.