Niemi returns to front line aiming to show United what might have been

The Southampton goalkeeper is one of Europe's finest says Jason Burt but has a fight on his hands for the No 1 jersey as the Saints entertain Manchester United in the FA Cup quarter-final today

W hen Sir Alex Ferguson scans the Southampton team-sheet later today there may, just for a moment, be a pang of regret. Regret if the name Antti Niemi is marked down in the home team's goal for an FA Cup quarter-final which, after their Champions' League exit, has suddenly taken on vital, desperate importance to Manchester United.

Niemi, perhaps, is the Scandinavian that Ferguson should have acquired to succeed Peter Schmeichel. It probably does not help that the Dane is, after all, the Finn's idol. "My hero," Niemi says ahead of the tea-time encounter at St Mary's Stadium. "I remember him in the big games, in the Champions' League. He was never bad but it seemed he was extra special in those matches."

It resonates. An ability to rise to the occasion is what marks out greatness and Niemi is surely now one of the finest goalkeepers in the Premiership, even Europe. Like Schmeichel, he has presence. Niemi is, also, intensely loyal, and has professed to wanting to finish his career on the south-coast. Although it may jar with his ambition, it's why he has furiously batted away speculation that he would desire a move to Old Trafford or any other of the big clubs who would, aged 32, and deeply in his prime, take him.

"No, I don't care about it, to be honest," he says of the talk which reached such a pitch during the January transfer window that he considered not speaking to the media again.

But it's a careful line to tread. Take the pressure, for example. The pressure to play for United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea. "That's part of the deal," Niemi says. "The press follows them more closely than they do the smaller teams. But, honestly, I can say that I don't understand why anyone is criticising Roy Carroll. He's had a very good season." Both he and Tim Howard, Niemi contends, are "excellent".

It is not just some version of the goalkeepers' union speaking about the Northern Irishman who will probably not play today because of cumulative errors.

"The mistake he made against Spurs was, of course, highlighted," says Niemi of the goal that wasn't when Carroll let Pedro Mendes' speculative halfway punt slip through, "and it was in the press and on the telly but I cannot remember too many others. He's been really solid and steady and played well for a massive club which is a little different than playing for a smaller club. So, I'm impressed by him".

It's not the same at Southampton. "We have pressure but for different reasons," Niemi says ruefully, before recalling his club's all-too-traumatic relegation battle. "At the moment we are going down. So we need results. It's a bit different but, in saying that, any goalkeeper in the Premiership feels pressure. But I like that. I like it."

But the goldfish bowl at the very top, where only winning trophies matters, is still alien. "I don't know because I wouldn't know," he says with just a tinge of regret. "The closest I have come to winning things since I joined Southampton was obviously the FA Cup."

That was 2003, the year after Niemi joined from Hearts for £2m, following spells at Rangers and on loan to Charlton Athletic, when Southampton reached the final, only to lose to Arsenal.

The memory is vivid. "What I remember best," says Niemi, "was when we went out for the warm-up and our side of the stadium was yellow and blue and red and white and the Arsenal end was almost empty." Niemi goes on: "I'm pretty laidback and I love playing football and don't get too nervous."

Having grown up in Oulu, the northern Finnish city where there is no darkness during summer nights but where Niemi, a hockey fanatic, recalls going to school in -42C one winter, it is not surprising that there is ice in those veins. But there is also fire.

"That was a great test going to Cardiff, with the chance to win the FA Cup. And the one thing I was happy with was myself because I felt brilliant before and during the game." And then he allows something revealing. "All the great goalkeepers," Niemi says, "someone like Schmeichel or Petr Cech, who looks like being one, then the bigger the game the better they play."

It is an endurance test he feels he can pass, although he also agrees with the verdict of Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, that it is, at times, easier to shine in a struggling team. "He's probably right," Niemi says. "It's a bit different being with one of the big teams at the top of the league. Obviously the opposition doesn't create as many chances as they do against clubs like Southampton and sometimes it's more difficult to play well when you only see the ball once or twice during the game."

It is why Cech, although just 24, has impressed him so much. "People say it's easy for him to play behind the Chelsea defence but I disagree. Every time he plays I see him make one or two saves that helps to keep a clean sheet."

Such statistics have been few and far between at Southampton this season despite Niemi maintaining his form even if others have crumbled. And now there is, surprisingly, a challenger. A knee injury has allowed a run of games to Paul Smith, who was acquired from Brentford as Niemi's long-term understudy by Gordon Strachan. Such is Smith's outstanding form that it is no foregone conclusion that Niemi, although fit, will be recalled.

"I really don't care who plays in goal at the moment," he says. "It's about getting results." Although, he admits, it would be "good for the confidence to beat one of the big boys", the Premiership is the priority. Indeed it is why he may, possibly, be held back.

And so, unlike two years ago, the FA Cup remains something of a side-show even if the holders are in town. "Manchester United are used to winning things a lot and it's looking difficult for them in the championship now and they are out of the Champions' League," Niemi says. "So it will be their best chance of silverware. I'm sure it would be a different game if that is not the case."

As his manager Harry Redknapp - the fourth he has worked under in little over a year - puts it, Southampton can now expect United to field "the full monty".

"Whether it's Paul or me then we are in for a busy afternoon," Niemi says. He's relishing the prospect - especially the contest with Ruud van Nistelrooy, a striker he admires greatly.

"When you are injured you realise just how much you miss the football," Niemi says of his latest lay-off. "The pressure can be a good thing for you as well." The pressure will certainly be on today.