Boss Lauds Defensive Duo

Sir Alex feels the continuity being enjoyed in the middle of the defence has helped improve United's backline.

The form of Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans has been exceptional of late and both starred again in last weekend's crucial victory at Tottenham. Evans has deputised impressively for injured skipper Nemanja Vidic and it's probably no coincidence that David De Gea has looked comfortable with a settled pairing in front of him.

"Rio Ferdinand's form in particular over the last couple of months has been outstanding," enthused Sir Alex. "It tells you that when you play two players together over long periods, rather than chop and change, it makes a difference. Jonny Evans has benefited there. That's been a plus."

Sir Alex is also very happy with summer signing De Gea, who was named the ManUtd.com Player of the Month for February.

"If you remember, we took him out for certain games in order to let him settle," said the manager. "It's not easy coming over here, as you know. Anders [Lindegaard] came in and did very well.

"We kept that process going for most of the time. But he had a bad game against Liverpool so I felt at that point he needed to get his confidence back in terms of handling that defeat.

"He was better than that performance. Since then he's been outstanding. He's grasped the nettle. His training performances have always been fantastic anyway but he's done really well there and transferred that form to the game situation. He's done really well."

Centre of excellence
Consecutive league matches played together by Evans and Ferdinand:

31 Jan Stoke (H) 2-0
05 Feb Chelsea (A) 3-3
11 Feb Liverpool (H) 2-1
26 Feb Norwich (A) 2-1
04 Mar Tottenham (A) 3-1

P5 W4 D1 L0 GF12 GA6 PTS13


Full record (all competitions) for matches started together by Evans and Ferdinand this season:

P12 W9 D2 L1 GF30 GA15