Boss: Keep Enjoying It

Sir Alex has encouraged his players to keep enjoying themselves after a 4-0 win over Aston Villa established a five-point lead over Manchester City at the head of the table.

The Reds recovered from the setback at Wigan to maul the Midlanders with two goals in each half, although the visitors were upset to concede an early penalty after Ashley Young was sent crashing inside the area.

"It was a good result," he told MUTV. "We were careless at times but, at the end of the day, there was some terrific football and some good goals. I'm very satisfied.

"There could be twists and turns yet. I think the name of the game now is for us to enjoy ourselves and play with expression, like we did today. Hopefully we'll be alright. You can never be too confident in this game of football. My experience tells me there's always something can bite you on the bum but hopefully we can avoid that and not drop any more points.

"It's one game less today and that's what I'll take out of the game. We've won our game with a good performance, which is important at this time of year. The players accepted the fact they lost a game on Wednesday and did something about it. No panic. We played our own game and I'm pleased about that."

When asked about his view on the penalty, after Young was sent flying by Ciaran Clark, the boss replied: "He brought him down. There was contact. Ashley jinked and came inside him and he went down quite easily but it was a penalty because he was definitely brought down.

"I don't see that in him [going to ground too easily]. It's not a habitual thing with him. I think he was brought down but just made the most of it.

"I don't know exactly what happened [for Danny Welbeck's goal] but the ball seemed to carry along the penalty box and Danny has come sliding in at the far post. To get a goal like that put us in a good position. 2-0 up at Old Trafford, we shouldn't lose a game.

"We got careless for a period in the second half but the third goal just killed the game and we were able to see it out quite comfortably."

Sir Alex was talking to MUTV and Sky Sports.