Man United out to protect lead at home

(China Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2010-03-13 08:07

Rooney the key as Fergies' boys try to stay on top in the Premiership

LONDON - Boosted by an impressive 4-0 Champions League triumph over AC Milan, Manchester United now have to concentrate on staying on top of the Premier League.

After Wayne Rooney took his goals tally for the season to 30 with two more against the Italian club, United have a home game against a Fulham side which has won only one league game in 14 away from home and should be confident of staying two points ahead of Chelsea and Arsenal in the title race.

The downside for manager Alex Ferguson and his team is that both rivals have comparatively easy games too. On Saturday, Chelsea host West Ham and Arsenal visit next-to-last Hull.

The biggest danger to United could be the fitness of Rooney, who has been hampered by a nagging knee injury which kept him out of last weekend's 1-0 victory at Wolves.

"His performance was a continuation of his form in the past few months, just sensational and unbelievable," Ferguson said. "He's still carrying a bit of an injury, nothing serious."

Former United star David Beckham, on loan to Milan from the Los Angeles Galaxy and Rooney's teammate in the England squad, was also impressed by the striker, who scored twice in the 3-2 first leg victory in Milan.

"He's such an exceptional talent," Beckham said. "I think without a doubt he's one of the best, if not the best player at the moment along with (Real Madrid's Cristiano) Ronaldo and (Barcelona's Lionel) Messi."

With Michael Owen sidelined for the rest of the season, Ferguson has fewer chances to rest Rooney. With Wednesday's game against Milan virtually won, he took Rooney off and replaced him with Dimitar Berbatov.

Man United out to protect lead at home

Longtime leaders Chelsea slipped to second only because they were involved in FA Cup action last weekend. But striker Didier Drogba, who played a big part in the club winning back-to-back titles in 2005 and 06, is cautious about predicting another triumph.

"We are far from that," he said on Thursday, his 32nd birthday. "We have lot of games coming and big games too so I don't want to bring bad luck by talking about if we win, but this season so far has been really good for me."

Like United, Arsenal come off a big victory in Europe, a 5-0 crushing of FC Porto as they also captured a spot in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

After watching Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner squander easy chances in last weekend's 3-1 victory over Burnley, the Arsenal fans were relieved to see him hit three goals against Porto in their team's all-round impressive performance which should also build confidence for the Premier League campaign.

Although too far behind to be realistically in the title race, the four teams behind have their own battle to capture fourth spot, which means a shot at next season's Champions League.

Tottenham hold fourth place going into a home game against Blackburn on Saturday but are level on points with Manchester City, who visit Sunderland on Sunday and have a game in hand.

Liverpool squandered a chance of going fourth when they tamely lost 1-0 at Wigan on Monday and are a point behind having played a game more. Rafa Benitez' team doesn't play its next league game until Monday when it hosts last place Portsmouth.

Lurking behind Liverpool are Aston Villa, who have four points to make up on Tottenham but have played two games fewer. Villa go to Stoke who have proved tough to beat at home.

Down at the foot of the standings, Portsmouth look all but doomed, especially if they have nine points deducted for going into administration.

Portsmouth already have five points to make up on three teams who are level on 24 points and two of them, Burnley and Wolves, meet on Saturday. The other, Hull, should struggle to get a point out of Arsenal, even at home.