Down to a three-horse race for title, says Fergie

ALEX FERGUSON has no doubt his long-standing belief that the title-winners will come out of the leading pack on New Year’s Day will prove to be correct once again.

The Manchester United boss has set his team the task of clawing back some of Chelsea’s nine-point lead over the festive season as they launch their bid to clinch a ninth Premier League title.

With five wins, one draw and 18 goals from their last six outings, United are the Premiership’s form team and will be heavy favourites to improve that record on St Stephen’s Day when they entertain Bolton, who have just lost four games on the trot.

That would at least allow United to keep up the pressure on Jose Mourinho’s men ahead of testing trips to Aston Villa and Middlesbrough and the January 4 Old Trafford clash with in-form Tottenham.

And it is after those four fixtures that Ferguson believes he can assess who will be involved in the title race, although he does not expect it will include anyone other than his own team, Chelsea and old rivals Arsenal.

“Once you get to the new year, you always have a good idea of who is going to be involved in the title race and who will end up near the bottom,” Ferguson said.

“For the last two or three years Chelsea have been close to the top because they have always done quite well over the first half of the season.

“Arsenal are usually there as well as ourselves and I am not expecting anything to be different this season.”

As United have turned their season around after a sluggish start, Chelsea have clicked into gear too and with four wins from their last six games, Mourinho’s side have shown no sign of faltering.

However, Ferguson has been around long enough to know Chelsea will probably slip up at some stage and when they do, he thinks his team’s experience may prove crucial.

“All we can do is keep plugging away and maintain the consistency in our own form,” he said.

“We have had a terrible time with injuries but hopefully we will get a bit of luck in that respect over the second half of the season, while we expect Chelsea to have a blip and it will be interesting to see how they handle it.

“My players have been down that road before but what we have to do is make sure we stay in touching distance of the leaders. Then we hope our experience will tell.”