We must find focus to get back on track, says Van Nistelrooy

MANCHESTER United need to put on the blinkers in order to revive their flagging Premiership title challenge, according to Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy.

United are nine points adrift of leaders Arsenal and their next three league games are against Newcastle, Liverpool and Arsene Wenger's champions.

"We are not in a position to be thinking about catching people," Van Nistelrooy said yesterday. "We are nine points behind after 15 games, so we shouldn't look to what anyone else is doing we should just be concentrating our efforts on winning our own matches and take it from there.

"If you start thinking about Liverpool and Arsenal being on top and ahead by so many points then it will make it even harder."

United's chase follows a similar situation last year, when the Old Trafford club ended trophy-less after trailing in Arsenal's wake for much of the campaign.

He added: "We have to stand up for ourselves and for the club and we are not going to give up. We do need a great run now. The big teams are upon us over the coming weeks and it is times like these when we have to show who we are."

United manager Alex Ferguson, meanwhile, has said his squad's rash of injury problems is nothing new.

Captain Roy Keane (hip), fellow midfielders David Beckham (ribs) and Nicky Butt (ankle), defenders Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville (both thigh) are all injured, while Wes Brown and Paul Scholes have also undergone surgery this season.

Ferguson said: "We have been stretched like this before. The 1997-98 season was the worst. I would challenge anybody to name the team we fielded when we went into the game against Arsenal, and the Monaco Champions League quarter-final.

"I had John Curtis at right-back, and Gary Neville and Henning Berg in the middle. Then I brought in Ben Thornley who had come back from a long injury and Scholesy played with a broken bone in his foot. David May came on for Ronny Johnsen, who had started in midfield.