Defiant Keane pledges United will fight right to the end

ROY KEANE has warned runaway leaders Chelsea that Manchester United will fight them all the way until the destiny of the Barclays Premiership title is settled.

The United skipper masterminded United’s 1-0 victory at Liverpool which stretched the Old Trafford club’s unbeaten league run to 12 and created a club record of three successive victories at Anfield.

Arsenal’s defeat at Bolton made United’s victory all the more important, despite Chelsea standing 11 points clear of Alex Ferguson’s men. United could soon overtake Arsenal as the chief threat to Chelsea, and defiant Keane vowed: “We will keep fighting to the end. We are Manchester United, that is what we do.”

Keane had an outstanding game at Anfield on Saturday and overshadowed Steven Gerrard in the midfield battle, helping United to equal a club record of seven straight clean sheets to underline their impressive current form.

“It is always nice to beat Liverpool, especially at Anfield,” said Keane. “The win keeps us in the frame. The clean sheets recently give us a lot of confidence. It is very important to keep winning. There have been one or two changes recently and the players who have come in deserve a lot of credit. If we are keeping clean sheets it gives us confidence because with the players we have, we always feel we will create chances and score the odd goal. It gives us a great foundation to go forward and win games.”

Keane admitted that United had their backs to the wall after Wes Brown was sent off midway through the second half, and the resistance held out as Liverpool failed to find a way through.

“The last 10 or 15 minutes at Anfield always seem to be the longest. They kept getting people in the box, You need a bit of luck and Roy Carroll made a decent save from Jamie Carragher at the end,” said Keane. “My first thought when Wes was sent off was ‘get John O’Shea on’. There were a lot of tackles flying around and I felt Wes was a bit unlucky.

“But sometimes it is hard for the other team when you are down to 10. We are difficult to break down and we proved that in the second half.

“It was a nice goal from Wayne (Rooney). I fancied him to score and it gave us something to hold on to and for a while we were able to pick them off in midfield. It would have been nice to get the second, but 1-0 at Anfield is a good result.”

Keane almost grabbed a goal himself with a long-range drive which hit the underside of the bar.

It would have been his 50th career goal for United - he has been stuck on 49 since scoring at Portsmouth in November 2003.

Keane said: “Not scoring doesn’t bother me in the slightest, the priority is to win football matches. It would have been nice to get the second but we have had two- and three-goal leads here before and it hasn’t worked out, so we are just pleased to get the win.

“I couldn’t wait to get started because I have not played for 10 days. Playing against Liverpool is what being a footballer is all about. It was a great atmosphere and they are a great club and the rivalry between the two teams and the fans was there for all to see.”