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LONDON. — David Moyes has demanded Manchester United stop their season from spiralling out of control when the struggling English Premiership soccer champions face Newcastle today.
United manager Moyes endured a dispiriting evening at Old Trafford on Wednesday as his former club Everton stole a 1-0 victory thanks to a late goal from Bryan Oviedo.
The shock defeat left Moyes’ men languishing in ninth place in the English Premier League and trailing leaders Arsenal by 12 points.
It was the latest setback in a troubled start to Moyes’ reign following his appointment as Sir Alex Ferguson’s successor and left their hopes of retaining the title hanging by a slender thread.
United have already lost four times in the league this term after losing just five matches in the entire 38-game campaign last season, prompting some critics to claim the Scot is out of his depth at Old Trafford.
But Moyes remains convinced United can salvage a traumatic campaign if they get back on track quickly.
“I am really disappointed, but we go again, keep going and move on to the next game,” Moyes told MUTV.
“That is the good thing here, there are always more games. We just didn’t reach the standards we would have hoped to (against Everton), but we have a chance to go again.”
Newcastle manager Alan Pardew believes Moyes will get it right eventually, but he knows the intense pressure on United could help the Magpies when they visit Manchester today.
“I think everybody knew that the first person to follow Alex, it was going to be very, very difficult,” Pardew said.
“But he’s a strong man and I think he can handle it, and there’s a long, long way to go.
“There’s going to be a little bit of pressure on them and we have got to try to capitalise on that and make it difficult for them.”
United’s struggles have added to the growing sense that Arsenal’s surge to the top of the table could be the prelude to a first English title for the Gunners since 2004.
Arsene Wenger’s side, 2-0 winners over Hull in midweek, are four points clear of second-placed Chelsea.
They face a tough test against United’s conquerers Everton at the Emirates Stadium tomorrow, but Arsenal’s Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta is confident the Gunners’ superb run of form has given them the belief they can last the pace.
“The difference to previous years is we are top of the league when by now we would be 10 or 12 points behind whoever was first before,” he said.
“The confidence and atmosphere is different and we want to maintain that.
“Does it matter we don’t have the experience of winning the title before? No – as long as you have the quality, the ambition and togetherness that we have, I think we are in a good position to do it.”
Chelsea travel to Stoke, with Frank Lampard warning his team-mates not to get complacent after back-to-back victories over Southampton and Sunderland.
Lampard, a scorer in the 4-3 midweek win at Sunderland, is pleased with Chelsea’s improvement after a rocky patch but he said: “A lot of that is attitude and focus. We have got the squad, we have got the players, but we have to get ourselves up for every game.
“If we go up to Stoke with the wrong attitude we won’t win, so it’s up to us.”
Manchester City, six points behind Arsenal in third place, travel to Southampton, who have slipped to eighth after three successive defeats.
City captain Vincent Kompany is hopeful a win at St Mary’s will signal the start of a charge for the title from the 2012 champions.
“Now we go to Southampton and if we beat them then all of a sudden we’ve a lot of things in our hands again,” Kompany said.
Meanwhile, There will be a minute’s applause in tribute to Nelson Mandela ahead of all of this weekend’s English Premier League fixtures.
Tributes have been pouring in from the sporting world in honour of the iconic South African, who died aged 95 on Thursday.
Fixtures
Today (5pm unless stated): Crystal Palace v Cardiff, Liverpool v West Ham, Manchester United v Newcastle (2:45pm), Southampton v Manchester City, Stoke v Chelsea, Sunderland v Tottenham (7:30pm), West Brom v Norwich
Tomorrow: Arsenal v Everton (6pm), Fulham v Aston Villa (3:30pm)
Monday: Swansea v Hull (10pm)
Online Reporter