Carrick Won't Stress Over Table

Michael Carrick insists there is no point agonising over Manchester United's position in the Barclays Premier League table as he strives to help the champions close the gap on leaders Arsenal.

The Reds started Sunday in eighth place despite the 3-2 victory against Stoke City and some eight points adrift of the Gunners, who won 2-0 at Crystal Palace. All the focus is on compiling a run of positive results rather than over-analysing the league position at this early stage.

"There's not really any point," Carrick replied, when asked whether he studies the table. "We're aware of the situation but there's no point going over it in your head and thinking 'what if'. You've just got to concentrate on the games coming up, putting runs together with wins and focusing on that and seeing where that takes us.

"We've been saying it for a number of weeks now about kicking on when we've had a good result, that we need to kick on and get back to our normal selves. There's still a way to go; we're not kidding ourselves. We know we've had a couple of good results, but it's by no means the best. There's more to come, but we're not in too bad a shape."

There is little doubt that the comeback against Stoke was imperative in terms of ensuring the Reds did not lose any further ground on the challengers.

"It's just the character we have," Carrick asserted. "It was a vital game to win, we didn't really have a choice, we had to find a way of doing it. We just kept going and we ended up finding that way when Chicharito popped up with the winner."