Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand is relishing the opportunity to send title rivals Arsenal crashing out of the FA Cup.

The Gunners claimed a huge psychological advantage over the Red Devils in the battle for Barclays Premier League supremacy by surging five points clear at the top after the last round of matches.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s charges slumped to a 2-1 derby defeat against Manchester City on Sunday before Arsene Wenger’s side beat Blackburn a day later to cement their position as title favourites.

There is, however, a chance to dent the Londoners’ soaring confidence on Saturday when the two sides face off in an FA Cup fifth-round tie at Old Trafford.

And Ferdinand insists his team-mates are fully focussed on hitting back.

“We didn’t do any of the things that have taken us into a good position in the league and made us a threatening, compact team,” he told MUTV about Sunday’s performance.

“It was a very bad weekend. We’ve all been thinking about the reasons why it happened and how we want to pull ourselves together and get the result out of our minds.

“The best thing you can do is to come into training and just get focused on winning the next game, and that’s what we’re doing.”