ITéS THE big showdown in more ways than one on Saturday . . . and Ladbrokes have come up with some special bets to mark the eagerly-awaited clash.

The crunch meeting between Manchester United and Arsenal, which could well have a strong bearing on the course of the Premiership title race, sees red hot strikers Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Thierry Henry go head-to-head.

Ladbrokes are offering odds of 6/1 for United to beat their big rivals in the Old Trafford encounter and go onto reclaim the Premiership crown.

They go into the game with confidence high after four successive wins and that is reflected in the fact that they are now 3/1 favourites to lift the Worthington Cup and 11/2 to win the Champions League.

The outcome of the confrontation between United hitman Van Nistelrooy and Arsenalés French star Henry could go some way to settling the big debate about who is the best striker in England and indeed Europe.

Henry is the 9/4 favourite to be the Premiershipés leading scorer this season, with the é19 million Dutchman just behind him at 3/1 in the betting. Theyére both 7/2 to score the first goal tomorrow, but in a Clash of the Titans special Van Nistelrooy is 2/1 to score more goals than Henry in the match, while the French striker is 12/5 to be on target more times than the Dutchman.

The Nationality of the first goalscorer is another Ladbrokes special where Arsenalés strong contingent of Frenchmen means that a player from that country is 7/4 favourite to break the deadlock, with a Dutchman at 5/2, a player from the Rest of the World 11/4 and one from the British Isles at 7/2.

One player who could steal the limelight from Van Nistelrooy or Henry is the subject of the Unstoppable Goal Machine special. Diego Forlan is 7/1 to be the first goalscorer, 2/1 to score at any time during the match and 50/1 to go one better than his double in the triumph over Liverpool last weekend by bagging a hat-trick on this occasion.

In a Flashback special, you can also get 50/1 for Ryan Giggs to score the winner in a 2-1 triumph for United to repeat their last victory over the Gunners, while odds of 35/1 are being offered on Sylvan Wiltord netting the only goal in a 1-0 win for Arsenal, which, of course, he did in May to clinch the title.

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