Sir Alex States Title Mission

Sir Alex Ferguson says his players are showing “great appetite” to deliver on a strong Barclays Premier League campaign so far and reclaim the title, but the Reds boss says there is still plenty of hard work ahead.

The current nine-point gap at the top of the table is convincing evidence of United’s focus on domestic duties, and the challenge Sir Alex is conveying to his players is of capitalising on the current situation.

“You hope that the players realise that the league is there for them [to win],” the boss tells this month’s issue of Inside United, on sale now.

“It’s obviously a big challenge and we’ve got the FA Cup and the Champions League as well, and managing the squad is going to be important when it comes to picking the right teams. That’s down to myself and the staff.

“It’s always an important time. The players have shown great appetite for it – they showed that against Tottenham in the way they fought like hell to get a result and were unlucky it went against them at the end. But we’re definitely in the right shape.”

n the next week, Sir Alex’s men face Everton and Real Madrid and the Reds boss hopes that a healthy squad with plenty of competition will stand United in good stead in all competitions.

“We’ve got players back from injury, which is important, and I usually find that during the second half of the season when the big games come along everyone is fit!

"We haven’t had a great run in the FA Cup for the last few years and haven’t been in the final for nearly six years, that’s a big attraction for us and this month we have the first game against Real Madrid, which is going to be a highlight.

“[In the league] you hope that the return we’ve had from the big games is going to be significant. We’ve won at Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and we were 30 seconds away from a really good result at Tottenham. All in all we’ve had a good return from these kinds of games and hopefully they will prove significant at the end of the season.”