'It's not as if we've gone backwards'

JOHN O'SHEA insists Manchester United are not going backwards even though the gap between the Red Devils and Chelsea appears to be widening by the game.

United entered the holiday period nine points adrift of Jose Mourinho's men and emerged from it 13 points behind following a relatively tame goalless draw at Highbury on Tuesday.

The result prompted Alex Ferguson effectively to admit United's title challenge is over already.

Given United have only lost twice this term and are currently on a run of 11 league games without defeat, it is a quite astonishing situation, brought on by Chelsea's phenomenal form.

Yet, as the inquest begins into a third successive title failure, the statistics back up claims from the United camp that their position is not quite as bad as it looks.

On only five occasions since Ferguson started leading the club to its eight Premier League titles 13 years ago have the Red Devils bettered their current tally of 45 points from 21 games.

The last time was two seasons ago when United appeared to be heading for the title until Rio Ferdinand's eight-month ban for a missed drugs test sent them spiralling downhill over the second half of the campaign.

Since then, United have been left gasping, first at Arsenal's unbeaten run, then by Chelsea's apparently unstoppable rise under Mourinho.

But, with £7million Serbian international Nemanja Vidic due to arrive in the next few days and more moves in the transfer market planned both this month and next summer, there is genuine optimism around Old Trafford that the seemingly unbridgeable divide with Chelsea can be negotiated.

"It is not as if we have gone backwards," said O'Shea. "Someone was telling me this is one of our best points tallies for the last 10 years.

"What we have not done is step up to the level Chelsea have reached and that is the next challenge for us now.

"We have taken eight points from 12 over the Christmas period but when you see the pace Chelsea are setting, it really needed to be 12.

The obvious problem for Ferguson is with each passing season, some of the stalwarts of his squad are reaching their sell-by dates.

David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Phil Neville and Roy Keane have already been jettisoned, while Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and new skipper Gary Neville are all the wrong side of 30.

It would be tough for anyone to replace the influence those names have had on United and question marks remain over the ability of Ferguson's new breed to fill the void.

But if there is one consolation for Ferguson, it will be the knowledge that old adversary Arsene Wenger appears to have far more acute problems to solve.

It is now four years since the Gunners last beat United in league combat but rarely in that time has the Arsenal attack been kept so quiet as it was on the Red Devils final trip to Highbury.

The ease with which Rio Ferdinand and Wes Brown dealt with Thierry Henry's threat only fuelled a belief among the visitors that while a point away at Arsenal represents a decent return, it should have been three. And, one suspects, had it been Chelsea, it would have been.

"We felt we had them," admitted O'Shea. "Once we got into the second half we could sense if anyone was going to win, it would be us."