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Sir Alex Ferguson was asked last week whether he thought his Manchester United team were the most entertaining in the Premiership. Uncharacteristically, he held back from a firm response.
"Well beauty is in the eye of the beholder isn't it?" smiled Ferguson. "It isn't really for me to make that judgment. All that I can say is that I certainly enjoy watching my players. They have been a joy to watch at times this season."
Certainly if United, leaders by six points, are to win the Premiership this season then they will do so playing a style of football in keeping with the club's expansive traditions.
They will also be doing a great service to a league that likes to bill itself as the world's most exciting. But are United genuinely the most attractive team to watch in the land? If you had to pay £50 to watch one team play for an afternoon, would it be Ferguson's maturing Red Devils?
The statistics would certainly appear to have United in front of the competition. Not only have they racked up more points than the opposition, they have scored more goals too.
How intriguing, then, that a panel of experts polled by Sportsmail on Monday, gave the nod not to United but instead Arsene Wenger's Arsenal.
Former players of the calibre of Phil Thompson, Ron Harris and John Aldridge all agreed that they would rather watch Wenger's young players than Ferguson's mixture of youth and experience at Old Trafford.
A case of two former Liverpool players and one Chelsea legend refusing to give credit to traditional rivals United? Perhaps. But even so Wenger's approach to winning football does appear to have left its imprint on the surface of English football over the last decade.
"Everybody likes to think he has the most beautiful wife at home," Wenger once said during one of his regular verbal spats with Ferguson. "I would not swap mine."
What is certain is that at the moment, it would appear that both men have - to continue the metaphor - partners worthy of the Miss World podium.
United's dismantling of Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Sunday perhaps spoke more on behalf of Ferguson and his players than words on this page ever could. What was expected to be a tough challenge instead became an exhibition of incisive, ruthless and breathtaking attacking football.
Has anybody in the history of England's top flight ever attacked with such bewildering pace as Cristiano Ronaldo? Have many sharper football brains been produced than those of Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes? It is doubtful.
Meanwhile at the Riverside, Arsenal scored a counter-attacking goal through Thierry Henry that must have taken all of five seconds to execute. The perfect goal away from home? Possibly.
What is beyond doubt is that the two other members of England's elite four teams - Chelsea and Liverpool - do not really enter this equation. It is a two-horse race.
Chelsea can certainly play fine attacking football but coach Jose Mourinho has fallen out of love with his wingers. At Anfield, Rafa Benitez remains a pragmatist at heart, a Spaniard who will win first and worry about pretty patterns later.
On Monday night United director and 1968 European Cup winner Sir Bobby Charlton described his club's current team as almost beyond comparison. Given that Ferguson's team currently combine entertainment and results, I would give them my vote.
Charlton - winner of 106 England caps - said: "What is exciting me at the moment is not so much the prospect of winning another Championship but the way the club are bringing on their young players and encouraging them to play this football. It is continuing a tradition within the club.
"Young Ronaldo has been terrific. He does exciting things that get you to the edge of your seat, the sort of player you associate with United down the years."
It is clear who would get Charlton's vote? But who would get yours?
"Well beauty is in the eye of the beholder isn't it?" smiled Ferguson. "It isn't really for me to make that judgment. All that I can say is that I certainly enjoy watching my players. They have been a joy to watch at times this season."
Certainly if United, leaders by six points, are to win the Premiership this season then they will do so playing a style of football in keeping with the club's expansive traditions.
They will also be doing a great service to a league that likes to bill itself as the world's most exciting. But are United genuinely the most attractive team to watch in the land? If you had to pay £50 to watch one team play for an afternoon, would it be Ferguson's maturing Red Devils?
The statistics would certainly appear to have United in front of the competition. Not only have they racked up more points than the opposition, they have scored more goals too.
How intriguing, then, that a panel of experts polled by Sportsmail on Monday, gave the nod not to United but instead Arsene Wenger's Arsenal.
Former players of the calibre of Phil Thompson, Ron Harris and John Aldridge all agreed that they would rather watch Wenger's young players than Ferguson's mixture of youth and experience at Old Trafford.
A case of two former Liverpool players and one Chelsea legend refusing to give credit to traditional rivals United? Perhaps. But even so Wenger's approach to winning football does appear to have left its imprint on the surface of English football over the last decade.
"Everybody likes to think he has the most beautiful wife at home," Wenger once said during one of his regular verbal spats with Ferguson. "I would not swap mine."
What is certain is that at the moment, it would appear that both men have - to continue the metaphor - partners worthy of the Miss World podium.
United's dismantling of Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Sunday perhaps spoke more on behalf of Ferguson and his players than words on this page ever could. What was expected to be a tough challenge instead became an exhibition of incisive, ruthless and breathtaking attacking football.
Has anybody in the history of England's top flight ever attacked with such bewildering pace as Cristiano Ronaldo? Have many sharper football brains been produced than those of Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes? It is doubtful.
Meanwhile at the Riverside, Arsenal scored a counter-attacking goal through Thierry Henry that must have taken all of five seconds to execute. The perfect goal away from home? Possibly.
What is beyond doubt is that the two other members of England's elite four teams - Chelsea and Liverpool - do not really enter this equation. It is a two-horse race.
Chelsea can certainly play fine attacking football but coach Jose Mourinho has fallen out of love with his wingers. At Anfield, Rafa Benitez remains a pragmatist at heart, a Spaniard who will win first and worry about pretty patterns later.
On Monday night United director and 1968 European Cup winner Sir Bobby Charlton described his club's current team as almost beyond comparison. Given that Ferguson's team currently combine entertainment and results, I would give them my vote.
Charlton - winner of 106 England caps - said: "What is exciting me at the moment is not so much the prospect of winning another Championship but the way the club are bringing on their young players and encouraging them to play this football. It is continuing a tradition within the club.
"Young Ronaldo has been terrific. He does exciting things that get you to the edge of your seat, the sort of player you associate with United down the years."
It is clear who would get Charlton's vote? But who would get yours?
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