The Manchester United manager believes the big match in Cardiff could turn out to be one of the best finals of recent times - between two of the greatest rivals in English football.

Arsenal and United have dominated both the Premiership and The FA Cup over the last decade, and only the arrival of Chelsea has upset their reign.

Ferguson said: "It's a big rivalry. And I don't think its just recent history. If you look at the last ten years it's been Manchester United and Arsenal competing for the trophies all the time.

"It's been going on now for a long time and it's been an incredibly fantastic competition between two great clubs and it won't be different on Saturday.

"It will be competitive. They are competitive, and we'll be competitive. There are enough great players from both teams to make it a great Cup Final.

"There is an aspect of some FA Cup Finals that have been disappointing. I think our Cup Final against Liverpool [ in 1996] was a terribly disappointing Final, for instance. But I think Saturday should be a good game."

United have had the better of their great rivals so far this season, beating them home and away in the Premiership and also winning in the Carling Cup. But Ferguson admits there will be no great advantage when it comes to The FA Cup Final.

He said: "It only matters in our preparation - when you use analysis of previous games against them, not just this season, looking for the threads that are consistent in terms of performances of our team against their team and their team against us."

Sir Alex is well aware that United fans are desperate to end the season with a trophy, however, after finishing only third in the Premiership for the second year in a row.

He said: "It's been a difficult season for us in terms of the league, there is no question about that.

"We are aware we have a bit of a gap between us and Chelsea which we will want to bridge and hopefully we can do that next season. But we want to end this one on a high."