Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo (centre) shoots as Arsenal's Alexander Hleb (left) and Gilberto Silva (right) close in during their English Premier League soccer match at Old Trafford, Manchester yesterday. - Reuters

MANCHESTER, Reuters:

Arsenal can win the Premier League, manager Arsene Wenger said after an impressive first domestic win of the season at Manchester United yesterday.

Arsenal, who took only two points from their first three games, won 1-0 at Old Trafford with a late goal from striker Emmanuel Adebayor.

"I believe in my team and I believe we have a chance to win the championship," Wenger said.

"I felt everybody had written us off straight away. When you opened the newspapers they had us playing in Division One (second tier) next year, so of course we sent out a signal to everybody.

"In the first three games we did not get what we deserved. We could be a team that had won four games.

"But since the Middlesbrough game (a 1-1 draw eight days ago) we have won at Hamburg in the Champions League and won at Manchester United. If you don't have special qualities you don't do that."

United manager Alex Ferguson said before the game that he felt Arsenal were a team in transition.

Wenger dismissed that view, applauding the resilience of his side in recovering from a missed penalty to end United's four-win start to the season and prevent them from returning to the top of the table.

"I don't feel we are in transition. We are very ambitious. We want to win the championship and I believe we can, although we need performances like that and even to develop further," Wenger said.

NO COMPLAINTS

"People came to conclusions very early. We had only played three games. Today you could see that we are a very strong side.

"To miss a penalty and then come out in the second half and win the game tells you a lot about their mental strength."

Ferguson had no complaints about the result after his side lost a league game to Arsenal for the first time in nine meetings.

"I can't deny that Arsenal deserved to win the match. We had some good chances, particularly in the first half, but not enough to win it," he said.

"I don't think we lost overall control of the match, but in the last 25 minutes I thought Arsenal were much stronger."

Arsenal's winning goal, created for Adebayor by Cesc Fabregas, followed a mistake by Cristiano Ronaldo who lost the ball to the Spanish man of the match.

However, the winger, United's best player in a poor performance, was defended by Ferguson.

"He lost possession because he will always try to beat men. That's the kind of player he is and that's the kind of player we want here. He is an exciting player who wants to make things happen," Ferguson said.

"Unfortunately he lost the ball and the midfield got caught out."