Fergie targets Arsenal, Chelsea games

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is gearing up for a crucial round of fixtures in December.

The Red Devils play away at Blackpool this Saturday with Ferguson expecting nothing less than a response and a win following the midweek Carling Cup debacle at West Ham United. And after that Ferguson faces a massive double-header of Arsenal at Old Trafford on 13 December and Chelsea away just six days later.

"You always want to win those [two] games because I think they're really significant," Ferguson told Inside United.

"We've managed to claw ourselves into a position where we're two points ahead of Chelsea, so the game at Stamford Bridge and Arsenal's trip to Manchester will certainly be very important, there's no doubt about that.

"We saw that last season - some big decisions didn't go our way in the two matches against Chelsea and they ended up costing us important points."

United failed to beat Chelsea home and away in the league last season - and ended up conceding the title race by a single point to Carlo Ancelotti's men. However, this season Ferguson's side currently sit two points above Chelsea in the standings heading into this festive period.

"Of course, how you do at Christmas depends on who you've got to play, and more importantly who you have to play in away games," Ferguson said.

"Over the years we always seemed to have had games in the North-east, but this year it's a bit more local, which is good. We're at home on Boxing Day [Sunderland] and just after New Year [Stoke], and only have to travel to the Midlands for games with Birmingham and West Brom on 28 December and New Year's Day. So that's not too bad.

"You're aware that you have to use your squad well because there are so many games, particularly during that week between Christmas and New Year - three matches in six days is a lot. It's a hectic period but we have the players to cope. Hopefully we're in the right position come the start of January."

There might be 18 league points on offer for United between now and New Year's Day, but Fergie could be forgiven if he doesn't get too carried away should a poor run of form occur in December. It has happened before and United have managed to get through it in the end.

During United's treble winning 1998/99 season, United picked up a paltry seven points from 18 during this period while in the 2003/04 season they won five out of five games over Christmas and New Year but ended up finishing third in the league.