MATT Jansen has backed Alan Smith's decision to join Manchester United -- even though Jansen himself turned the club down five years ago.

The Blackburn Rovers striker had the opportunity to go to Old Trafford when he was a Crystal Palace player in 1999, but opted for Ewood instead.

"It was through Brian Kidd that I went to Blackburn," Jansen revealed. "He was interested in me when I was still at Carlisle United and then he went to Blackburn so that's why I ended up here.

"The decision was right for me at that time because of the manager, but people say young players fear they might not get in the first team and not develop at United.

"But you can look at Alan Smith and say he's proving them wrong because he's gone there and done very well."

With Smith in fine form following three goals in his last two games, Jansen thinks Blackburn's best hope of stopping United lies at the other end of the field.

With Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown and now Roy Keane, who will be out for three weeks with a rib injury, missing from the defence, it's an area Rovers will be targeting as their best hope of pulling off a hat-trick of Premiership victories over the Red Devils at Ewood.

And Jansen certainly isn't anticipating a repeat of the 3-0 defeat at United's great rivals Arsenal on Wednesday night.

Jansen said: "Man United aren't as formidable as they have been and have a few more weak areas than Arsenal.

"They're good going forward but I think they are maybe short of a quality defender and a couple of midfielders.

"Roy Keane's just got this rib injury so they are a little bit light there, even though the youngsters came in on Wednesday in the Champions League and showed they can do a job.

"But in the Premiership teams that are expected to beat you, you can always get a win or a draw against because there's no easy games for anyone.

"So it wouldn't be out of our hands to go and get a result against Man United.

"I can see it being a slightly easier game than Arsenal and can see us getting something out of it, whereas with Arsenal it's difficult to see how you can break then down or stop them from scoring."