Alex Ferguson got style
Chelsea worthy champions says United's Ferguson
By Pete Oliver
MANCHESTER, England, May 9 (Reuters) - Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson says his players will give champions Chelsea a deserved guard of honour when they run onto the Old Trafford pitch for Tuesday's Premier League match.
Ferguson said his Chelsea counterpart Jose Mourinho had done particularly well in securing the championship since joining the London club from European champions Porto at the end of last season.
"I think he has enjoyed it," Ferguson reporters. "It's not an easy league to get involved in for your first year in English football.
"The Premier division is very difficult so I think he has deserved his title. They have done very, very well and they are a very good, powerful team."
United will finish third in the league for the second year running and despite trailing Chelsea by 17 points, Ferguson said the gap between the two sides was not as wide as the points tallies suggested.
United have drawn once and lost twice by single goal margins to Chelsea in league and cup games this season.
"There is nothing between the sides and leagues can be decided on little incidents like the penalty-kick decisions at Stamford Bridge at Old Trafford," he said. "That's the thin dividing line we've got."
Ferguson said he was not looking for his side to strike an early psychological blow for next season's title race on Tuesday.
"Chelsea will know fine well that we will be one of their challengers next year and they will be one of ours," he said.
"There's no question it will be a very hard league next year. Liverpool are improving and Tottenham are improving and with Arsenal, Chelsea and ourselves it's going to be a fantastic league.
"I think you're going to see a very relaxed Chelsea team playing against us on Tuesday night.
"They have won the league and we are looking forward to a cup final so we want to be in good form ourselves, so it should be a terrific match."
United face Arsenal in the FA Cup final at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on May 21.
Defender Gary Neville will return on Tuesday following a three-match ban, but Gabrielle Heinze remains out with an ankle injury.
__________________
|