MANCHESTER, England (AFP) - Sir Alex Ferguson insists his current Manchester United squad has two years to fulfil its potential as they prepare for Saturday's titanic FA Cup fifth round tie against top-flight rivals Arsenal here at Old Trafford.

Both United and Arsenal go into the clash harbouring ambitions of a Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup treble this season, with Arsene Wenger's team currently in pole position in the Premier League with a five-point lead over closest challengers United.

The reigning champions, who suffered a shock home derby defeat against Manchester City last Sunday, are set to have Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra back from suspension for the tie against the Gunners.

Arsenal's young squad has surprised many this season by sustaining their challenge on three fronts, but United boss Ferguson insists his team also possesses the youth to push for the big prizes for at least two more years.

"This squad as a whole is capable of staying together for another two years, including Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville. By that time, the maturity and experience will come from the likes of Rio Ferdinand and co. That's the way I hope it works out," said Ferguson.

"The next step is for the younger players to get the maturity that brings them authority, but this team will go through that learning process, and I think you can see with Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo that there is a growing maturity, especially in the last year.

"Players like Anderson and Nani will go through that process and the age of the team is very good. We've only got Ryan, Paul and Gary as outfield players who are over 30. All the rest are between 20 and 29.

"Within that, there is another strong group behind the older lads that are in the 26-29 bracket -- Rio, Louis Saha, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra -- followed by the collection of young ones.

"But we're hopeful about the squad as it is now. There is good ability and team spirit, a strong work ethic, experience, youth and we've got match-winners," the Scot added.

"Carlos Tevez, Rooney and Ronaldo have all scored important goals, we just need the midfield to contribute goals consistently and the signs, both short and long-term, are very good."

United midfielder John O'Shea admits that the return of Rooney, who has missed all of United's five defeats this season, could be a key factor for the home side.

"Wayne can lift players around him. He is infectious with his work rate and he gets the crowd buzzing," said the Republic of Ireland international.

"We're all just waiting for the next game to come around now. We're still in a great position in three competitions and we can't just forget a disappointing result, especially against our city rivals Manchester City, but we do have a lot to be positive about."

Defeat for United would extend their winless run to three games ahead of next Wednesday's Champions League clash with Lyon and Abou Diaby, the Arsenal midfielder, claims a Gunners victory could give them a crucial edge over United between now and the end of the season.

"Maybe a win will give us a psychological advantage, but we just want to give our best and win the game," Diaby said.

"I think we want to play well in every competition whether it's the FA Cup, the Champions League or the League.

"We want to win all of them because we are a big club and we want to win trophies, so this Saturday is very important to us."