United can win title by beating rivals

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson wants his team to beat their rivals to claim the title league after a late win over Everton on Saturday.

United extended their lead in the English Premier League to nine points with the 1-0 win at Old Trafford, thanks to an 84th-minute header from Javier Hernandez.

Their lead could still be pegged back to six points if Chelsea beat West Ham United later on Saturday.

Ferguson wants his side to beat Chelsea and Arsenal to wrap up the title in their next two league games.

“The thing that puzzles me is that I keep hearing that we still have got to play Arsenal and Chelsea, as if we are going to lose them,” he told Sky Sports.

“Why can’t we win these games? Why should people say that we can’t beat Chelsea at home or go to the Emirates and win,” Ferguson said.

“I said to the players today to forget all that nonsense and just win your games. Win their games and we will be all right.”

Ferguson said the attitude of his players was good enough to go on and claim a 19th league title for the club.

The 69-year-old said he was surprised by the impact of match-winner Hernandez in his first Premier League season and was pleased with his team’s overall performance.

“We thought that a year of introduction to the club, adapting him to English football and strengthen him up and he’s done all these things in that period,” Ferguson said.

“We played some really good football at times. Maybe in the first 10 minutes of the second-half our decision making wasn’t up to scratch but we could have had the game finished at half-time.”

The boss also labelled the five minutes of additional time as an “unfair rule”, accusing Everton of wasting the majority of the time after going a goal down.

Meanwhile, Everton manager David Moyes said a more attacking approach was on the cards from his side after holding out United for such a long period.

“We’ve come up against a really good Manchester United side and just at the end the lapse gives them that opportunity,” he told Sky Sports.

“Today for long periods we held a really good team out, who look like they might be champions.”

“I thought we’d just about weathered it and maybe we could see if we could try and get a goal, but that’s what happens when you open up.”

The loss leaves Everton in seventh place with hopes of Europe spot all but over.