Reds In Good Shape

Sir Alex Ferguson insists he and his squad are enjoying every minute of the title race, despite currently sitting second behind Manchester City.

United's win at Tottenham on Sunday closed the gap at the top of the table to two points and brought down the curtain on a particularly difficult run of fixtures.

"Since January we've had all the big teams - Arsenal, Liverpool, City in the Cup, Liverpool in the Cup... it's been a really busy spell," Sir Alex said.

"But we've come through that and credit to the players. They've dug in and played well in most of the games.

"[Tottenham] was a bit of a disappointment, but the one thing we did do was show the determination to get the result. We defended very well and the goalkeeper made a fantastic save in the second half."

And while there's no suggestion the Reds now have "easy games" to look forward to - this season, more than any other, has produced surprise results - eight of United's final 11 Premier League opponents currently occupy spots in the bottom half of the table.

City, meanwhile, still have tricky trips to Stoke, Arsenal and Newcastle to navigate and must welcome Chelsea and United to the Etihad Stadium.

That Manchester derby, on Monday 30 April, is already being touted as a "title decider", although Sir Alex believes both teams will stumble before then.

"Things can happen - you can drop some surprise points and I think both teams will do that. The important thing to do is not drop as many as your opponents.

"We've got the experience. We won't get nervous, we're enjoying it.

"And the battling performance you saw against a very good Totenham team tells you we're up for it."

Next five league games
MANCHESTER UNITED

11 Mar - West Brom (h)
18 Mar - Wolves (a)
26 Mar - Fulham (h)
2 Apr - Blackburn (a)
8 Apr - QPR (h)

MANCHESTER CITY

11 Mar - Swansea (a)
19 Mar - Chelsea (h)
24 Mar - Stoke (a)
31 Mar - Sunderland (h)
8 Apr - Arsenal (a)