ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE:ALEX FERGUSON'S team may have returned to the top of the table while setting a record for defensive fortitude but he is too long in the tooth to be lured into triumphalism yet. Experience has taught the Scot to discount none of the teams behind him.
“It is going to be difficult for Chelsea, it is fair to say,” said Ferguson before warning: “But in the context of football as we know it, mistakes can be made. We had an 11-point lead over Arsenal in 1998 and lost it. We are not counting our chickens.”
The Scot did not seek to belittle his side’s achievement in winning at Upton Park, where they had lost on their two previous league visits and, famously in 1995, stumbled to a draw that cost them the league title. The fact that Gianfranco Zola’s revitalised team had gone into the match on the back of an eight-game unbeaten streak made the victory all the more satisfying for Ferguson.
“It was an important win,” he said. “West Ham are always difficult opponents for us. They are a very good team that is in great form. It is a measure of how well we played today.”
Eight of United’s last 10 wins have been by the 1-0 scoreline that sufficed at Upton Park. Though the match also enabled the goalkeeper, Edwin van der Sar, to set a new British record for consecutive clean sheets – his 13 eclipsing the record Aberdeen’s Bobby Clark had held since 1970-’71 – Ferguson stressed that his team still sought to remain true to their attacking tradition.
“Obviously the clean sheets are going to be a topic but we haven’t changed our emphasis,” he said. “The players we have on the pitch are attackers.”
He did admit, however, that the prospect of prolonging their impregnability was proving a significant motivating factor for his players. “We have a challenge in terms of all the clean sheets we are keeping,” said Ferguson. “When you have that foundation, you are always hoping one of your skilful players can win the game for you and today it was Ryan (Giggs).”
The goal was his first of the season and meant he set another record, becoming the first player to score in 17 consecutive Premier League seasons.
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