Gary Neville has admitted only a monumental disaster for Chelsea can lead to Manchester United winning the Premiership title this season.
The United defender hopes to make his return for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side against Chelsea’s west London rivals Fulham at Old Trafford on Saturday after missing the club’s Champions League exit against AC Milan and subsequent FA Cup win against Southampton with an ankle injury.
But the England right back trained on Tuesday and will now look to play his part in extending an 18-game unbeaten league run against the Cottagers.
However, with Chelsea’s 1-0 victory over relegation candidates West Brom at Stamford Bridge leaving Jose Mourinho’s side 11 points clear at the top with nine games remaining, Neville knows better than most that the Reds’ title hopes are fading fast.
”They can make a mistake but it is looking less likely as each game goes by,” Neville told MUTV on Tuesday.
”We still harbour hopes that they could really collapse. But we need more than a blip now, it would be a monumental disaster for them not to win the championship.
”They do have a lot of games coming up, and with the Champions League matches as well, you never know what could happen. All we can try and do is make sure we maintain our own form so if they do falter, we can capitalise on them.”
But whatever the outcome of the Premiership race, United appear well on course to finish in the top two and so avoid the hassle of an additional Champions League qualifier in August.
United have been beaten just twice in the league this season: an opening-day defeat against Chelsea followed by a 2-0 defeat away to Portsmouth at the end of October.
”If we can’t get near Chelsea, we should at least look to secure second spot if we can,” Neville said.
”We are defending an unbeaten run that goes back to October and we want to maintain it,” he added. — Sapa-AFP