Sir Alex warns United against Spurs

LONDON – Now that Manchester United has regained control of the Premier League title race, manager Alex Ferguson hopes to make sure his team doesn’t let Liverpool back in by losing at home to Tottenham on Saturday.

Wednesday’s 2-0 victory over Portsmouth opened up a three-point lead with a game in hand. But Ferguson warned his team, which recently let a seven-point advantage slip away, not to get complacent.
‘We have to put our foot down all the time and I don’t think we have any leeway if we don’t perform properly,’ Ferguson said after goals by Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick helped beat Portsmouth. ‘There were times in the second half (against Portsmouth) when I thought we were going to throw it away.’
After being knocked out of the FA Cup by losing a penalty shoot-out to Everton at Wembley on Sunday, United’s dream of winning five titles in one season is over. It already has the Club World Cup and the domestic League Cup and faces Arsenal in the semifinals of the Champions League, which means it still has a good chance to win four titles.
When Harry Redknapp arrived in October, Spurs were last in the standings with only two points from eight games after its worst start in more than 100 years and fans were worried they might get relegated for the first time in 32 years.
But the wily Redknapp, who has spent most of his career fighting relegation or gaining promotion, helped the team collect 42 points in 25 games and now it is chasing a spot in next season’s Europa League, the successor to the Uefa Cup.
The problem is that Tottenham occasionally has the habit of dropping points in games it should win. Among the team’s impressive victories over Chelsea, Aston Villa and West Ham are draws with Portsmouth and Sunderland and losses to Newcastle, West Bromwich Albion, Bolton and Blackburn.
Liverpool hopes to capture three points from a visit to Hull, which has slipped alarmingly from the top four near the end of October to just above the relegation zone.
Third-place Chelsea, which visits West Ham, is now six points behind United and even manager Guus Hiddink has all but given up on the title.
Arsenal seems certain to hold on to fourth place, which would mean another shot at the Champions League next season and is expected to collected three points at home to Middlesbrough, which is 18th and in the relegation zone.
Down at the foot of the standings, West Bromwich Albion is nine points off safety and looks certain to go down even if it beats fellow struggler Sunderland on Saturday. Next-to-last Newcastle, which has failed to win in Alan Shearer’s first three games in charge, doesn’t play until Monday when it hosts Portsmouth.
Blackburn is 17th and three points above the relegation zone and hopes to improve its position with a home victory over neighbour Wigan on Sunday.
Also Saturday, it’s: Bolton v Aston Villa; Everton v Manchester City; and Fulham v Stoke.
– Nampa-AP