Giggs: Let's Set The Pace

Ryan Giggs believes Manchester United must set the pace in the Barclays Premier League to quell the threat posed by Jose Mourinho's Chelsea.

During his first reign at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho inspired two lightning quick starts en route to claiming consecutive titles. And both triumphs were undoubtedly underpinned by substantial advantages gained over the Reds during the early season.

In fact, during the 2004/05 campaign, United were six points behind the Blues after just 10 games and a season later, in 05/06, that margin had stretched to 10 points. Thankfully, lessons were soon learned and Giggs and his colleagues went on to lift a hat-trick of titles from 2007 to 2009.

Speaking ahead of Monday's Old Trafford meeting with Chelsea, Giggs outlined his desire for a quick start this time around. “In Mourinho’s first spell at Chelsea, they obviously got us to a few good starts and we didn’t manage to catch them.

“You always want to get off to a good start. It has obviously been well documented that we have got a tough start, but we started well with a good win at Swansea on Saturday and hopefully we can carry that on.”

Ryan Giggs was speaking at the launch of United's new partnership with Apollo Tyres.