Alex Ferguson says his side are ready to hammer the final nail into Arsenal’s coffin when they meet Newcastle this week.
|||London – It is a fair bet that the happiest man inside the Emirates Stadium on Sunday was Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson as he watched Arsenal's title hopes further diminish.
Arsenal squandered a golden chance to at least put some pressure on United at the top when they conceded a penalty in the 10th minute of time added on against Liverpool.
Dirk Kuyt's assured spot-kick sealed a point for Liverpool and the harshest of endings for Arsenal who had taken the lead from the spot just two minutes before.
With five games to go, United lead Arsenal by six points and Gunners manager Arsene Wenger will be distraught at how his side threw away points for the third home game in succession.
Six points have gone from three consecutive draws at the Emirates and though United still have to go to Arsenal, Ferguson's men are long odds-on to win it for a record 19th time.
Wenger, who was incensed by Liverpool's penalty two minutes after the eight allotted for time added on, remains defiant, however, and says his team are still capable of bridging the gap.
“Now we must give everything until the last game of the season and see if it is our year or not,” he said.
“The hope is always there but, to keep the hope alive, it is up to us to win our games and to win our next game (away to Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday).
“We are on a 15-game unbeaten run, but recently we have not taken enough points.
“We dropped two points. It was a difficult game against a Liverpool team who basically only defended. Maybe we are a bit jaded physically. You could see that some players have played around 45 games and maybe we lack a change of pace, but we tried very hard.
“We tried everything to create chances. We had a few and that is what these kind of games are about.”
Having seen Arsenal's disappointment first hand, Ferguson knows his team can steer almost the final nail in their coffin by winning their match at Newcastle United on Tuesday.
“It's a major game on Tuesday,” Ferguson told the club's television channel, MUTV. “It doesn't matter when you play, you know you've got to recover and get on a winning streak again.”
Ferguson said his team needed to get back on track immediately after their semi-final defeat by neighbours and rivals Manchester City in the FA Cup on Saturday.
“The first 15 minutes after half-time cost us the game,” he said. “Slack moments. Edwin (van der Sar) had a bad kick out and Michael Carrick couldn't hold it and it was a goal.
“From then on, they were defending apart from a couple of counter-attacks. It's disappointing as we should've been ahead in the first half as we were the better team.” – Sapa-dpa
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/goodbye-arsenal-1.1058233
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