Fergie has a goal — two more wins

Tottenham 0

United stand five points clear of Arsenal, albeit having played a game more, but victories in their remaining matches against Charlton and Everton would now be enough to prevail.

That is even if the Gunners, who stumbled by drawing 2-2 at Bolton on Saturday, manage to beat Leeds, Southampton and Sunderland.

Ferguson, who recalled David Beckham to the side which won 2-0 at White Hart Lane, declared: "It's now a question of winning our games. That's exactly the way I'm looking at it.

"We're not going to rest. You don't get rest in this game. To win championships, you need the resilience to go the whole way to the line."

Captain Roy Keane had verbally blasted his team-mates at half-time yesterday for effectively treating the game more like a friendly.

However, he later insisted that United have the experience to see them through, as he warned his team not to blow their title chances by panicking with the finishing line in sight.

"The belief we have in the squad is fantastic, but we know there's a long way to go yet," declared Keane.

"It's important not to panic, but we have got experience and we have been down this road before. Experience is very important at this stage.

"Arsenal are a top team, they deserve a lot of credit. We have a very difficult match against Charlton at Old Trafford on Saturday. We must stay focused and hopefully we'll get a win."

While Paul Scholes put United ahead, Ruud van Nistelrooy finally managed to beat the impressive Spurs keeper, Kasey Keller, at the seventh time of asking, taking his season's haul to 40 goals.

Ferguson added: "It could have been 48. But he's scored the important one, as we were hanging on a little bit and Spurs were having a real go at us.

"That killed the game and I could relax for at least three minutes.

"Paul Scholes was marvellous. Is there anyone better at ghosting into the penalty box and getting these kind of chances?"

United still took 68 minutes to break the deadlock, with Keller superbly denying van Nistelrooy on four occasions in the first half alone.

However, Ferguson was impressed with the way his side knocked out of the Champions League just four days earlier by Real Madrid held their nerve.

"When we missed those chances, you wonder what kind of day it could be. But we finally got it and then made sure we didn't do anything silly," he said.

"I said hat perseverance is necessary. You could sense the determination and that they weren't going to lose. We just had to put it away.

"You always worry after a European game as it emotionally drains your players, but it helped us slightly to have a Sunday kick-off."

Ferguson, unsurprisingly, did not discuss the recall of Beckham, although he did explain why he had chosen Roy Carroll in goal instead of Fabien Barthez.

"I had decided on Roy Carroll and he did very well. I think that Fabien maybe needed a break," he said.

Tottenham boss Glenn Hoddle, whose shot-shy side have almost certainly missed out on Europe, believes that United are now favourites to lift the title.

He said: "Up to 68 minutes, we were still in the game, although our keeper kept us in it in the first half "We gave the ball away cheaply for both goals, but United have so many players who can score.

"That's the added dimension which perhaps they have got more than anyone else in the league."

The title is theirs to lose now.

TOTTENHAM: Keller, Carr, Taricco, King, Richards (Gardner 31), Davies, Poyet, Toda (Iversen 78), Etherington (Bunjevcevic 79), Sheringham, Keane.

MANCHESTER UNITED: Carroll, Brown (Gary Neville 54), O'Shea, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Beckham, Keane, Scholes, Giggs, van Nistelrooy, Solskjaer (Fortune 72).

Referee: J Winter (Cleveland).