Paul Scholes believes Manchester United's wealth of midfield talent encourages players to be consistently at the top of their game.

With the former England international back to full fitness after recovering from a knee operation, Sir Alex Ferguson has a host of quality midfielders vying for starting roles.

And Scholes knows not playing consistently well could result in losing your place in Ferguson's first XI.

"There are so many options in there now - Michael (Carrick), Owen (Hargreaves), Anderson, Fletcher, O'Shea and Giggsy," he told MUTV. "I think that has to be good for your game.

"You go into matches knowing that if you don't play well, there's always somebody waiting to take your place. We all have to keep our performance level up to get picked for the next game.

"If we do lose one or two players, it doesn't make any difference. Any two from six could play and you'd still have the same outcome."

When asked if this was the best midfield he had played in at Old Trafford, he said: "It's hard to say. I think we've always had competition, like when Nicky (Butt), Roy (Keane) and (Juan Sebastian) Veron were all here. They were all top midfielders and it was hard to get into the team. I think it's the same now."

Meanwhile, defender Rio Ferdinand cannot wait for Arsenal's visit in the FA Cup in order to banish the memory of their derby defeat to Manchester City.

"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," Ferdinand stated.

"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."

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