LONDON, Feb. 1: Sir Alex Ferguson has delivered a hammer blow to Arsenal’s title hopes but the Manchester United manager believes Arsene Wenger’s side can do his team a favour at Chelsea next weekend.
Ferguson was rewarded for an inspired team selection as England forward Wayne Rooney and Portugal winger Nani took advantage of the United manager’s tactics to inspire a 3-1 win at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
The champions’ impressive victory moved them to within one point of Premier League leaders Chelsea, although Carlo Ancelotti’s men can re-establish a four-point advantage on Tuesday if they win their game in hand at Hull.
Ferguson is confident United have the experience and desire to overhaul the Blues, but he has no qualms about admitting he would love to see Arsenal win at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
"The run-in is always a difficult period. We have handled it over the years and I am trusting them to handle it again," Ferguson said. "We hope Chelsea drop points obviously and they will be saying the same about ourselves.
"Arsenal are not out of it and I hope they go to Stamford Bridge next Sunday and batter them. I hope they can get some points off them."
Judging by Arsenal’s tame surrender against United — a lacklustre performance which echoed the Gunners’ 3-0 home defeat against Chelsea in November — Ferguson shouldn’t invest too much hope in Arsenal tripping up their London rivals. Wenger’s team showed their mental fragility by crumbling as soon as goalkeeper Manuel Almunia pushed Nani’s cross into his own net in the 33rd minute. With Arsenal’s morale in tatters, Rooney capped a breathtaking counter-attack that covered the length of the pitch with a perfect finish to claim his 100th Premier League goal four minutes later.
South Korea winger Park Ji-Sung took advantage of woeful Arsenal defending to slot home United’s third goal early in the second half and Thomas Vermaelen’s volleyed goal in the 80th minute was scant consolation for the hosts.
Deployed by Ferguson as a lone forward, Rooney tormented Arsenal’s back four and he rightly earned praise from the Scot for the kind of influential display that made him such a formidable force this season. But Ferguson also reserved a special mention for Nani, who was moved across the left to right wing and ruthlessly exploited Arsenal left-back Gael Clichy.
Nani was in Ferguson’s bad books earlier in the season for expressing his unhappiness at his lack of playing time, but he has been revitalised over the last fortnight.
The stunning piece of skill which saw him flick the ball between his legs to bewilder Clichy and Samir Nasri in the build-up to United’s first goal was testament to his new-found confidence.
"The boy has come back from an injury freshened up and his last three games have been first class. This was his best performance for us," Ferguson said.
"Maturity is one reason, he is 23 now. He is a very shy boy and maybe his personality is getting stronger to deal with playing for us every week."
While Ferguson showered praise on his stars, Wenger was unusually acerbic when asked to assess Arsenal’s latest letdown against a title rival.
Wenger, whose side were beaten for the first time in 11 league games, knows Chelsea could be eight points ahead of Arsenal before kick-off next weekend and he conceded it will take a major effort to recover from such a dispiriting defeat. "Next Sunday we have to deliver a better performance before we think about winning the game," he said. "We have to focus completely on delivering a different performance.
"We were naive. We never had any cohesion, offensively or defensively. We were completely not at our level. Why? I believe there are some mental reasons in there."
"We were never close with our marking. You do not win big games because of that. We need to deliver something special now to stay in the race. Of course I am conscious of that."
— AFP
Steve Griffiths