Table-toppers United ground out a 1-0 victory over West Ham thanks to Robin van Persie scoring the fastest goal of the Premier League season to date, after only 33 seconds. And while it was a far from vintage performance, it was a vital one given that City's 2-0 victory at Wigan kept the defending champions just one point behind.
"The three points means we're still ahead in the league,” said Ferguson. “And with Chelsea drawing, it draws us away from them a little bit further. But City are on our tails. It's going to be a long season.”
Given the scarcity of clean sheets for United this term, the fact his side were able to keep West Ham at bay for such a long period gave Ferguson as much pleasure as the large points cushion he enjoys over European champions Chelsea and their new manager Rafael Benitez.
"It is particularly hard, when you take the lead after one minute, to keep a clean sheet over the remaining 90-plus minutes, with time added on. But in the main I thought we defended very well."
Chelsea need confidence boost: Benitez
Benitez admitted his Chelsea side were in need of a confidence boost after successive scoreless draws in the new manager's opening two Premier games in charge.
Benitez's men were held by Fulham on Wednesday, four days after the draw with champions Manchester City. He insisted there were positives from the Fulham stalemate.
"You cannot be satisfied when you haven't won these games,” said Benitez. “We've only had a few training sessions. We need more time. The main thing is to win games. If we do we'll be there and we can win competitions. We need to start doing that and the confidence will come back. It's still a long way to go," he said. "We have to keep going. We'll have chances.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 30th, 2012.
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