Sven-G?ran Eriksson believes that Manchester City have inflicted a “body-blow” to Manchester United by winning this season’s two derby matches and, while Sir Alex Ferguson will urge his team to forget such parochial squabbles, Ryan Giggs admitted yesterday that United’s margin for error in the Barclays Premier League is so small that it may be nonexistent.
United trailed Arsenal at the top of the table by two points before the leaders played their game in hand at home to Blackburn Rovers last night and, while all at Old Trafford were praying that their North West rivals could do them an unlikely favour, Giggs suggested that, after taking one point from the past two matches, United were in a position where they may have to win all their remaining matches.
“We probably can’t afford to drop any more points now,” Giggs said. “We’ve got to make sure we don’t produce any more performances like that [the 2-1 defeat by City at Old Trafford]. There were a lot of players that didn’t look as sharp and that may be because of the international game last week, but there was enough motivation for us – a massive game for the club, a derby and an important three points.”
Eriksson, who boasts a 100 per cent record against United in three matches (one with Lazio in the European Super Cup in 1999 and two with City this season), said that it was too early to write off United’s title hopes, but he believes that the six points they have lost to City this season have done serious damage to their aspirations. “You never know,” he said. “You win the title in March and April, not now. But it is a body-blow to their hopes.”
United have an opportunity to strike a psychological blow to Arsenal when they meet in the FA Cup fifth round at Old Trafford on Saturday evening, but already minds are drifting to the final weeks of the season, when United face Arsenal on home territory on April 12 and Chelsea at Stamford Bridge two weeks later.
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“There’s no doubt about it, the games against Arsenal and Chelsea will be decisive,” Ferguson said in the match programme on Sunday. “The fact that the league is so close makes a big difference. All the top sides have dropped points. Teams are taking points off the top sides more than ever. It looks likely that our home game against Arsenal and the match at Chelsea could make a huge difference.”
United – and indeed Chelsea – must hope that this is the case, but it will not be unless they can win their remaining games and Arsenal lose a little of their recent momentum.
Contrary to Ferguson’s assertion that the top teams have been dropping more points than ever before, Arsenal’s record of 60 points from 25 matches going into last night’s game was the same as United’s at the corresponding stage of last season. United ended that season with 89 points, six clear of Chelsea; after a fourth defeat of the campaign on Sunday, they are on course to finish with 85 this term.
Gary Neville, the United captain, has not played since last March because of persistent ankle and foot injuries that have raised concerns that he may not play again, but the defender, who turns 33 next week, insists that he will be fit again sooner rather than later. “I’m not going to put a timescale on it or name a game when I’ll be back,” he said. “The fact I’ve been out for so long inevitably brings that sort of speculation, but once I get fit, I’ve no doubts I’ll be OK.”