Neville questions Chelsea’s nerve in the long haul

MANCHESTER UNITED defender Gary Neville has questioned whether leaders Chelsea will be able to hold their nerve in the second half of the Premier League season and says his own club are still in the race.

Jose Mourinho’s side are currently four points clear at the top after 17 games and hold a nine-point advantage over United.

But when asked if Chelsea could be caught, Neville said: “we are aware of how difficult it is to win a championship.

“We have been in that position before and we want to make sure we put ourselves in a position to challenge.

“If they keep playing as they are for the rest of the season, you would have to hold your hands up but whether they will do that remains to be seen.

“We have to see how Chelsea react in the most important months.

“If they are being hunted down by clubs like us, how will they do in April and May? That’s the time when you really have to hold your nerve. Everyone is interested to see how Chelsea will react at that point in the season.”

Neville, speaking during the launch of an initiative to help raise funds for Oxfam, believes United are still in the hunt for a ninth Premier League title.

“We are strong enough to catch Chelsea and we are playing well enough,” he said. “We played well at Fulham the other night but didn’t get the result we wanted,” he added following Monday’s 1-1 draw. “Three or four weeks ago we were eight to 10 points behind Arsenal and we could have gone two points behind them the other night.”

Neville is fronting a campaign asking professional footballers to donate their Christmas Day salary to Oxfam.

A player earning £20,000 (€38,690)-a-week could hand over £2,858 to the charity, which will spend the money on helping children in Africa improve their schooling.