Raise your game, Keane tells team-mates

Roy Keane has told his Manchester United team-mates to raise their game and win every league match between now and the end of the season.

With Arsenal consolidating their position at the top by whipping Manchester City, United are now five points adrift in the title race.

Curiously manager Alex Ferguson has seen his side stumble to teams in the bottom half of the league like Bolton, who are desperate to maintain their top-flight status.

After the splendid victory over Juventus in the Champions League, United lost their way at Bolton and had to settle for a point in a 1-1 draw.

It’s a situation Old Trafford skipper Keane is anxious to remedy in the coming weeks.

“In the Premiership you can’t take anything for granted but no doubt we will look back at only take one point from Bolton over two games,” he told MUTV.

“You would be looking to take more from these two games if you want to win the title.

“At this stage of the season we need to win every game to keep the pressure on Arsenal.”

Manchester City manager Kevin Keegan is tipping Arsenal to win the Champions League after the 5-1 defeat.

The Gunners were four goals to the good at Maine Road inside the first 18 minutes.

Keegan said: “They were at their most dangerous when we had a corner and after the first 20 minutes it was just damage limitation.

“I have watched Arsenal play quite a bit and they are on a different planet to us. I haven’t seen anything which changes my opinion that they will win the Champions League this season.

“For the first time in a while, I will have to show my players the first 20 minutes because there are some harsh lessons to be learned.”

Newcastle remain within touching distance of Arsenal and Manchester after beating Leeds 3-0, thanks in part to the enthusiasm of 70-year-old manager Sir Bobby Robson.

He believes he has assembled the best crop of young players in the country and that they can qualify for the Champions League for a second successive year.

He said: “Three years ago Leeds United, apart from being a good club, appeared to have a bright playing future with a very strong squad.

“They had good, class players of a good age – and we’ve probably replaced them.

“I reckon we’ve now the finest crop of young players in the country – when you think we left behind Lomana LuaLua, Hugo Viana, Jonathan Woodgate and Nolberto Solano for this game.”

Alan Curbishley has been hailed as English football’s most successful manager of the last five years.

The acclaim for Curbishley came from Graham Taylor, manager of Aston Villa, who went down 3-0 at The Valley.

“If you’re looking at success in the big picture, you’ve got to look at Charlton Athletic,” said Taylor.

“If someone said to me ‘who’s been the most successful club – looking at the big picture – over the last five years’, I’d say Charlton.

“You wouldn’t put them up there in terms of trophies, but it’s also about developing a football club.”

Top scorer Tomasz Radzinski is convinced that reborn Everton will grab “the dream that is in front of our eyes”.

Their chase for the Champions League is becoming increasingly realistic while a place in the UEFA Cup moves closer with every passing game.

Radzinski smashed two goals in the dying minutes against Southampton to rescue victory when it looked like James Beattie’s 18th of the season would see Southampton home.

The Canadian said: “Now the dream is in front of our eyes. There’s only 10 more games and we cannot drop many points.

“We have showed everybody that we can keep it up. Now we are still there with the best of them.”

Blackburn boss Graeme Souness insisted he was happy for midfielder David Dunn to continue having the “hump” with him – just as long as he continues producing match-winning performances.

After battling his way back to fitness to make his first appearance in a month, he showed the character to emerge as one of his side’s two inspirational figures in a 2-1 win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The first was goalkeeper Brad Friedel, who pulled off a string of top-class saves, denying Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen twice each, as well as Frank Lampard.

Souness said: “Dunny’s got the hump with me still but I can live with that. I’m a big boy and I’ve fallen out with people before.

“If that’s the way it has to be for him to knuckle down and be the talented player that I want him to be for Blackburn Rovers, then I’ll have done him a favour.”

Sunderland look doomed after the 3-1 defeat by Middlesbrough but midfielder Kevin Kilbane has vowed to fight to the death.

The Ireland international insisted the belief and the passion to get out of trouble are still there.

“It has to be,” he said. “We have 10 games left now, 30 points to play for, and hopefully we can get ourselves out of trouble.

“It’s a big task, we’ve never kidded ourselves about that fact. A few weeks ago, it was always going to be a big task, and it’s an even bigger task now that we haven’t won at home against Middlesbrough.

“We’re up for the fight. We’ll fight – we’ll fight to the death. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. We’re 100% behind the manager and we’re 100% behind the fans.”