Man U ready for title: Fergie

Ferguson, who turns 70 on New Year’s Eve when his team entertain struggling Blackburn, saw United draw level with City on points after an emphatic 5-0 victory over Wigan at Old Trafford on Boxing Day.
It marked a remarkable recovery from United who, as recently as December 10, trailed City by five points and 17 goals prior to a 4-1 victory over Wolves.
Now, following consecutive 5-0 victories, all that separates United from the current league leaders are five goals in the goal difference column – the margin of defeat which United suffered at the hands of City in their historic 6-1 home loss to Roberto Mancini’s side in October.
“As I say, it’s a long season,” said Ferguson. “If we get to New Year’s Day top, or joint top with City, then I will be happy. I’ve been saying for a few weeks that somebody was going to suffer against us and we’ve really hit good form now and got a goal threat from all departments.
“The clean sheet was a good part of the game for us and the consistency of the team is very good now.
“But the injuries are mounting up for us now – Phil Jones was down ill, Chris Smalling was ill, Rio Ferdinand called off with a back injury and Jonny Evans came off injured at half-time. We’re getting our fair share.”
Those injuries will severely test United with Ferguson confirming that a calf strain will keep Evans on the sidelines for two weeks.
“We will just have to wait and see,” added Ferguson, with an eye on his team selection for the Blackburn game. “I’m hoping Smalling and Jones will recover. That will make a difference.”
A single point against Blackburn will take United to solitary ownership of first place at the top of the table and place intense pressure on City, who visit Sunderland 24 hours later on New Year’s Day.
However, for all their defensive injury concerns, there is no doubt that United seem to have found the answer to their goalscoring problems with Bulgarian forward Dimitar Berbatov, starting just his second league game of the season, claiming a hat-trick against Wigan. Berbatov, joint leading scorer in the Premier League last season with City’s Carlos Tevez, now has four goals to his name this term and Ferguson said: “It was the right game for him. We needed his height to defence against set pieces. It helps his confidence.
“He has not had the best of starts to the season in terms of selection, with the options I have – in (Danny) Welbeck, (Wayne) Rooney and Chicharito (Javier Hernandez).” – AFP.