Three straight wins have left United at the top of group F and a point would be enough to secure qualification if Celtic can take anything from their trip to Lisbon to face Benfica.

But Ferguson is determined to maintain the momentum of United's flying start to the season against the Danish champions, who paid the price of attempting to take on the Red Devils at their own attacking game when they went down to a 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford on October 17.

The Scot, who will celebrate 20 years in charge of United on November 6, insisted: "One point isn't enough, so we're going to try and win it. We want to keep the form right so I'll be playing my strongest team.

"Copenhagen are a good technical and organised team and their approach play was very good at Old Trafford in the last game. But we played well on the night and could have scored a few more goals.

"I don't expect them to change how they play on Wednesday. They'll continue to play their football and I'm sure their approach play will be very good. But as long as we defend properly, I think we have a good chance."

Ferguson revealed earlier this week that he wants to win the Champions League at least once more before bringing down the curtain on his remarkable career.

Given how fluently his team has been playing of late, it looks like an achievable objective and the manager can claim a large part of the credit for the way he has reshaped his side after offloading Ruud van Nistelrooy in the summer.

The Dutch striker has a credible claim to be regarded as the best finisher in the European game yet United's cutting edge has become significantly sharper in his absence.

In 14 matches in all competitions this season, United have scored 32 goals that have been shared out among 13 players, a trend that, for the manager, has pleasing echoes of the pattern of performance of the squad that delivered the club's last European triumph in 1999.

"We can now rely on a few players which is something we used to do during the late nineties," Ferguson recalled.

"Some years we had fourteen or fifteen goalscorers within the squad which gave you a good spread of goals. If we can get that with this squad, it'll make a big difference for us."

Ferguson's commitment to fielding his strongest side means Copenhagen will once again have to contend with Wayne Rooney, who ended a 10-match run without a goal by claiming a hat-trick in the 4-0 demolition of Bolton at the weekend.

"The football we played in the first 20 minutes at Bolton was probably the best we have played as a team all season," the England forward said.

"There has been a lot of talk by a lot of people over the last few weeks saying I couldn't do it any more, stuff like that, so the feeling when the first goal went in was brilliant.

"Although I am not too worried about not scoring as long as we get the result, it was a relief and to finish the hat-trick was nice."