We must get winning mentality - Ferdinand

Rio Ferdinand believes Manchester United must maintain a winning mentality if they are to stand any chance of landing the Premiership title this season.

Alex Ferguson’s side visit struggling West Brom this weekend desperately needing to improve a poor away record which has seen them win just twice on their travels all season.

That one of those victories came at Liverpool just highlights the disappointing nature of the Red Devils’ form away from Old Trafford this season and Ferdinand knows the record must get better if they are to close the Gunners’ five-point lead at the Premiership summit.

“We need a winning mentality,” Ferdinand told MUTV.

“The most important thing now is to keep progressing, put in decent performances and get results.

“It wouldn’t matter who we were playing tomorrow, West Brom or someone in the top five, we would still need to win.”

After the midweek draw with Blackburn, Ferguson expressed his hope that skipper Roy Keane would have recovered from the tight hamstring which forced him off against Portsmouth last weekend.

However, neither party will want to take any chances, so Phil Neville stands by to start his 27th game of a busy campaign.

For the first time in a decade, United have reached the turn of the year still competing on four fronts, although Ferdinand is not phased by the prospect of a crushed end-of-season run-in.

“We have to make sure everyone is in tip-top condition,” he said.

“But the reason I came here was to be fighting to get into positions like these. You want to play in big games.”