Edwin's Respect For Rivals

Edwin van der Sar believes United will face a fight to hang onto the Premier League trophy next term but the Dutchman still expects the Reds to win title number 20 without him.

The retired goalkeeper believes Chelsea and Manchester City will provide the biggest threat as Arsenal are in danger of losing Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri and feels Liverpool, although revitalised by Kenny Dalglish's arrival as manager, could fall short.

"It's going to be Chelsea again, they are always going to be challenging," he said in an interview with ESPN Star and Asia One. "Maybe Manchester City will be there, although they may have some trouble convincing Carlos Tevez to stay.

"They won the FA Cup last season and will be eager to win more.

"Liverpool will be really motivated to try and win the league. They will be anxious to try and overtake our 19th title, but I don't think that's going to happen.

"Arsenal, at the moment, are a little in limbo because some players are going to leave. They have issues of strengthening key areas and convincing players to stay."

Van der Sar is backing Sir Alex Ferguson's team to clinch another title, regardless of the merits of the opposition.

"Hopefully, the continuity we have at United, with the manager and with the players who have already won league titles," he stated to Asia One. "Hopefully we can do it again.

"Chicharito has been amazing and it's been the same with the twins (Rafael and Fabio da Silva). I remember one game they both played against Arsenal. They played left and right wing and Fabio scored from a cross by his brother.

"They're extremely talented and hopefully they can keep on making progress."