Ferguson tells United title race is not yet run

Sir Alex Ferguson has warned his Manchester United players they still have work to do to win the Premier League title despite enjoying some breathing space at the summit.

Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Portsmouth here at Old Trafford moved United three points clear of second-placed Liverpool with a game in hand.

Rafael Benitez’s team lost ground with a 4-4 draw with Arsenal on Tuesday and Wednesday saw Chelsea also fail to keep the pressure on after their goalless stalemate against Everton.

United have six league games left, starting with Saturday’s match at home to Tottenham Hotspur and they also have to contend with a Champions League semi-final against Premier League rivals Arsenal on Wednesday.

Ferguson’s English and European champions created plenty of chances against Paul Hart’s Pompey but, despite now being in a convincing position in the Premier League table, the United manager has told his players they must improve if they are to stay the course in the title race.

“We’re in a better position than we were on Tuesday morning but having seen that second-half and how we got so casual, I’m not taking anything for granted and we’ve got to put the foot down all the time,” Ferguson said.

“I don’t even consider leeway in this situation and I don’t think we have a leeway and we’ve got to keep performing properly.”

Ferguson will be without Gary Neville and John O’Shea for “several weeks” after the duo limped out of the game against Pompey.

But the United manager expects Rio Ferdinand to return against Spurs at the weekend after resting him against Portsmouth.

The England centre-back had missed several weeks with a groin problem before returning in the FA Cup semi-final defeat by Everton at the weekend and was left out of the squad in midweek.

But Ferguson added: “The fact he played extra-time last weekend and that was his first game in two or three weeks, it was too big a risk.

“There was nothing wrong with his groin, it was just tiredness and with Jonny Evans being such a good performer, it was easy to do that.

“Gary and John (O’Shea) will be out for several weeks.”

Wayne Rooney opened the scoring against Portsmouth with his tenth league goal of the season before Michael Carrick made the game safe eight minutes from full-time.

England midfielder Carrick said it had been important to United that they made the most of Liverpool’s slip-up.

“It was a boost for us watching the Liverpool game and seeing that result and we were desperate to make up the points with a good win and we got the three points,” Carrick explained.

“We’re in a decent position and hopefully we can get the momentum up again in the next few games and put it to bed as quickly as we can.”

Hart said Portsmouth’s performance was a mark of their progress.

The south coast side are now six points above the relegation zone and have lost just two matches in nine games since Hart replaced the sacked Tony Adams.

“We have to remain resolute and difficult to beat until the end of the season,” Hart insisted.

“We’ve been hard to beat in the last nine games or so. We’ve been more resolute and I thought we proved that against United.

“We were able to frustrate United a little bit and against the best team in the world, people don’t realise how difficult that job is.”