THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — Boosted by an impressive 4-0 Champions League triumph over AC Milan, Manchester United now has to concentrate on staying atop the Premier League standings.
After Wayne Rooney scored twice against Milan to give him 30 on the season, United has a home game against a Fulham side which has won only one league game in 14 road contests. That should give United confidence to stay two points ahead of Chelsea and Arsenal in the title race.
The down side for manager Sir Alex Ferguson and his team is that both rivals have comparatively easy games too. On Saturday, Chelsea hosts West Ham and Arsenal visits next-to-last Hull.
The biggest danger to United could be the fitness of Rooney, who has been hampered by a nagging knee injury which kept him out of last weekend’s 1-0 victory at Wolves.
“His performance was a continuation of his form in the last few months, just sensational and unbelievable,” Ferguson said. “He’s still carrying a bit of an injury, nothing serious.”
Former United star David Beckham, on loan to Milan from the Los Angeles Galaxy and Rooney’s teammate in the England squad, was also impressed by the striker, who scored twice in the 3-2 first leg victory in Milan.
“He’s such an exceptional talent,” Beckham said. “I think without a doubt he’s one of the best, if not the best player at the moment along with (Real Madrid’s Cristiano) Ronaldo and (Barcelona’s Lionel) Messi.”
With Michael Owen sidelined for the rest of the season, Ferguson has fewer chances to rest Rooney. With Wednesday’s game against Milan virtually won, he took Rooney off and replaced him with Dimitar Berbatov.
Longtime leader Chelsea slipped to second only because it was involved in FA Cup action last weekend. But striker Didier Drogba, who played a big part in the club winning back-to-back titles in 2005 and 06, is cautious about predicting another triumph.
“We are far from that,” he said Thursday, his 32nd birthday. “We have lot of games coming and big games too so I don’t want to bring bad luck by talking about if we win, but this season so far has been really good for me.”
Like United, Arsenal comes off a big victory in Europe, a 5-0 crushing of FC Porto as it also captured a spot in the quarter-final of the Champions League.
After watching Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner squander easy chances in last weekend’s 3-1 victory over Burnley, the Arsenal fans were relieved to see him hit three goals against Porto in their team’s all-round impressive performance which should also build confidence for the Premier League campaign.
Although too far behind to be realistically in the title race, the four teams behind have their own battle to capture fourth spot, which means a shot at next season’s Champions League.
Tottenham holds fourth place going into a home game against Blackburn on Saturday but is level on points with Manchester City, which visits Sunderland on Sunday and has a game in hand.
Liverpool squandered a chance of going fourth when it lost 1-0 at Wigan on Monday and is a point behind having played a game more. Rafa Benitez’ team doesn’t play its next league game until Monday, however, when it hosts last place Portsmouth.
Lurking behind Liverpool is Aston Villa, which has four points to make up on Tottenham but has played two games fewer. Villa goes to Stoke which has proved tough to beat at home.
Down at the foot of the standings, Portsmouth looks all but doomed, especially if it has nine points deducted for going into administration.
Portsmouth already has five points to make up on three teams who are level on 24 points and two of them, Burnley and Wolves, meet on Saturday. The other, Hull, should struggle to get a point out of Arsenal, even at home.
Just above the relegation zone, Bolton and Wigan also face each other while Saturday’s other game is Birmingham at home to Everton with both teams chasing spots in next season’s Europa League.
In the race for promotion, Newcastle holds a six-point lead and a game in hand on its two leading rivals in the League Championship. Newcastle visits neighbour Middlesbrough on Saturday while second place West Bromwich Albion welcomes Blackpool and Nottingham Forest, which is eight points off the lead, goes to Preston.