Ferdinand: Title race wide open

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand is wary of complacency and insists Monday’s win at Blackburn will not settle the title race.

United have found form at the right time, opening up a five-point gap over Manchester City following their 2-0 win at Ewood Park.

With Roberto Mancini’s men stuttering, United are now strong favourites to wrap up their 20th title but Ferdinand said they are not looking that far ahead.

“The significance of that reaction on Monday was blown out of all proportion,” he said.

“I have been at the club for 10 years and Blackburn has always been a hard place to go. We have had a lot of bad results there. A couple of years ago they stopped us from winning the league.

“We wanted to put that right and it was nice to get one back over them.”

Ferdinand has been a part of many title challenging squads and has warned his team-mates they must remain focused until the last game of the season.

“The only thing on our minds is to win each game. We are not look beyond that. It is a cliche and it is boring. But that is the way it is,” he said.

“You just have to keep ticking off the boxes. We are in the position we would like to be in at this stage of the season but it is not over.

“There is a lot of football to be played between now and when the trophies are handed out.

“We have to make sure we apply ourselves in the right way. If we put in the performances and get the results we want, hopefully we will be lifting the trophy at the end of the season.”

Manchester United face QPR, Wigan and Aston Villa in their next three fixtures, and Ferdinand believes games against teams fighting for survival are by no means a formality.

“Everyone is saying our run-in looks easy,” he said.

“But our next three games are against teams who are fighting to stay up. The league has become more of a level playing field anyway.

“A year ago no one would have said Newcastle would beat Liverpool as convincingly as they did on Sunday. Who would have thought QPR would beat Arsenal last week?

“If you are not on your game, you will get beaten.”