AFP - 1 hour 44 minutes
ago
MANCHESTER, England (AFP) - - Sir Alex Ferguson hailed his
Manchester United side's 2-1 victory over Arsenal here at Old
Trafford as a decisive moment in this season's Premier League title
race.
Victory moved United six points clear of second-placed Chelsea,
who can reduce that gap to three points with a home win over Wigan
on Monday.
But with just four league games remaining, Ferguson is convinced
his men have now taken a massive step towards the successful
defence of their title.
Next up for the Scot's side are Blackburn and victory at Ewood
Park will mean United can all but take the title if they beat
Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on April 26.
"I said if we win our next three games we would be champions,"
said Ferguson after seeing United come from 1-0 down to win thanks
to Cristiano Ronaldo's coolly-taken penalty and Owen Hargreaves's
superbly struck free-kick.
"We have got over a nervous day today (Sunday)," Ferguson added.
"We've got a week's rest now, get them freshened up before
Blackburn away.
"The players knew this was a massive game today. Arsenal and
ourselves have been competing for trophies for 15 or 16 years and
the games are always so emotionally tight and this was another
one."
Ferguson agreed his team had been fortunate to beat an Arsenal
side who had gone ahead in the 48th minute through Emmanuel
Adebayor as they tried to keep their season alive after last week's
Champions League exit against Liverpool.
"The quality of this game was outstanding," Ferguson said as he
reflected on another compelling United-Arsenal clash .
"There won't be a better game this year. They were the better
team in the first-half. I thought we were very nervous and our
passing was poor and I couldn't wait to get to half-time.
"When Arsenal scored they forced my hand, and I had to bring on
Anderson and Carlos Tevez. That was a pivotal moment and we were
fantastic after that, played some good football, and it was just an
incredible game."
Victory would have hauled Arsenal back into the title race,
moving them to within three points of United.
Instead, Arsene Wenger and his players were forced to admit
that, at nine points adrift of top spot, they were out of the race
having been five points in front as recently as February.
Arsenal have been criticised for an inability to turn impressive
performances into wins but their French manager insisted there
would be no compromising when it came to the Gunners' approach next
season.
"I believe the gap between success and failure is very thin and
I didn't feel that today we were inferior technically speaking and
in terms of quality," he said.
"I feel we have done a lot to promote the Premier League all
over the world this season. I'm not an idealist, I want to win
trophies and I am sad we haven't won a trophy," Wenger
insisted.
"We want to win trophies by playing the way we do but we want to
do it better. That will come.
"But we have to go beyond the situation we have now where the
praise given to winners is beyond reason while those who don't win
are slaughtered beyond reason," he added.
"We feel there is not a big difference between ourselves and the
other teams. We play quality football because we think that is the
way to win trophies. We have lacked maturity defensively at times
this season but that will come."
