Manchester United 'charged up' to overhaul Chelsea - 7M sport

Manchester United 'charged up' to overhaul Chelsea



Posted Saturday, April 24, 2010 by theguardian.com

Manchester United 'charged up' to overhaul Chelsea

Sir Alex Ferguson said Manchester United had been 'lifted' by last week's last-minute victory over Manchester City.

Sir Alex Ferguson has warned Chelsea his Manchester United players are "lifted and charged up" by moving within a point of the Premier League leaders but he also recognised the dangers posed by Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford tomorrow when he described them as the best team from White Hart Lane he had seen in nearly a quarter of a century in English football.

After beating Arsenal and Chelsea in their last two matches, Harry Redknapp's fourth-placed team head to Manchester in what Ferguson described as "championship form". But the United manager is convinced that Paul Scholes's stoppage‑time winner against Manchester City last weekend has given the champions new impetus in their bid to overhaul Chelsea at the top of the table.

"There has been a lift in the camp this week," he said. "There has been always a great atmosphere in our training over the years but then you get a lift like last week and the change is very noticeable. It's been very competitive. The players are lifted and charged up. I trust them and I hope they can do it for me again."

With three games to play, United are a point behind Chelsea and also have an inferior goal difference, 51 to 54, but Ferguson believes it could be a telling psychological advantage if his team can move two points clear by the time Carlo Ancelotti's side host Stoke City on Sunday. "Chelsea have a lot of experienced players but pressure does come into it at this kind of year. It's going to be nervy for some players and supporters. Some players will get nervy, no question about that. It happens."

United's manager was referring to Chelsea's defeat at Tottenham last Saturday on the back of Scholes's late winner at Eastlands. "Last weekend has helped to lift us," he said. "When Scholes scored I was resigned to the game finishing nil-nil. It would have been very difficult for us to win the league after that but we won the game with the last kick of the ball and we have done that far too many times for it just to be a coincidence. We should be applauded for that incredible resilience."

Ferguson, however, is mindful of Tottenham's own position, pushing for the last Champions League place, regardless of the fact they have not won any of their last 66 away games in the league against "Big Four" clubs. "I think they are the best Tottenham team of my time in England. On the one hand I congratulate them for beating Chelsea but, on the other hand, we now face the problems that Chelsea faced and we have to play against them.

"Spurs are going for fourth place and I'm sure they will come to have a go. We always expect that of Tottenham and, looking at their form in the last two games, I don't think anyone below ourselves and Chelsea, possibly Arsenal, have reached that kind of form. What you saw from Spurs against Arsenal and Chelsea was championship form, convincingly beating two of the best three teams in the league."

After this weekend United go to Sunderland before finishing the season with a home game against Stoke. Chelsea's last game is also at home, against Wigan Athletic, but Ancelotti's men have a tough encounter with Liverpool at Anfield next weekend. "You have to look at that game," Ferguson said. "If it was us going to Anfield, we'd look upon it as a difficult game. Anyone would. But first of all, both of us have games at the weekend to address and hopefully we can navigate ours."

Ferguson particularly praised Gary Neville, saying he expected the former England international to stay at Old Trafford for another year, as well as expressing his belief the defender might yet be included in Fabio Capello's World Cup squad. "I wouldn't be surprised if he went to South Africa. It's not my job to say that, and it's difficult enough for an international manager, but I wouldn't be surprised if he chose him."

Of his own future, Ferguson was irritated by reports that he had decided to retire at the end of next season. "Absolutely not true. Rubbish. Absolute rubbish. That's a laugh if ever I have heard one. As I've said time and time again, the only thing that determines my staying here is my health. Unfortunately for you lot [the media] I'm in rude health. You can be left to suffer me. And you'll be gone before I'm gone."



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