United bank on Rooney for title impetus
London, Feb. 5: Manchester United will stay hot on the heels of Chelsea in the Premier League title race and plunge Portsmouth into deeper trouble if they beat the bottom-placed club on Saturday.
United’s dismantling of third-place Arsenal with a 3-1 victory last weekend coupled with leader Chelsea being held at Hull in midweek, has put the champions within two points of the summit.
And Alex Ferguson’s United could be back on top by Sunday night if the team beat debt-ridden Pompey and Arsenal manages to win at Chelsea.
"It is kick-on time for us now," Ferguson said. "The Arsenal win was massive for us because they are in great form.
Each game that comes along on the run towards the finishing tape becomes more important. It doesn’t matter who it is, we want three points from everyone now."
Taking three points from Pompey shouldn’t be a problem, although they upset Liverpool last month at Fratton Park. Ferguson isn’t relishing adding to Pompey manager Avram Grant’s problems as he grapples with the south-coast club’s cash crisis. "
"I can’t for the love of me understand how he’s coping with that," Ferguson said of the former Chelsea manager.
"He’s a football man, that’s the problem for Avram. Being a football man he wants to be in football, but he’s got back in (the game) in circumstances few managers would attempt ... but he’s got stuck in and hopefully he survives."
Portsmouth couldn’t be facing United at a worse time with Nani producing some devastating performances and Wayne Rooney in the goal-scoring form of his life.
"Hopefully we are now seeing (Rooney) mature into the center forward we always thought he would be," Ferguson said.
Nani had failed to convince at Old Trafford after arriving from Sporting Lisbon for more money than it took to sign Cristiano Ronaldo from the same club.
But having stuck by the 23-year-old Nani, the Portuguese winger is finally blossoming into something Ferguson insists is not connected with Ronaldo’s departure to Real Madrid.
"I don’t think he was overshadowed by Ronaldo. It was just a question of maturity," Ferguson said.
"Nani was young when he came here and he is quite a shy boy. Some players can adjust to coming to another country and joining Manchester United very easily. In the past, others have taken time.
"Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic came to us in the January but it was nearly a year before they hit the form we see in them now. Nani is much the same."
Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri feels his team will be out of the title race if they lose at Chelsea on Sunday.
Losing at Stamford Bridge would see the gap with Chelsea widen to nine points.
"Defeat is forbidden and that would mean the end of our title chances," Nasri said. "But any other result would leave us in the running."
The Gunners have struggled against their title rivals this season, losing to United twice as well as being comprehensively beaten by Chelsea at home.
Rob Harris
— AP
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