Chelsea have installed Russia boss Guus Hiddink to temporarily replace sacked Phil Scolari at Stamford Bridge.
But despite the Dutchman's pedigree the Red's seven point advantage and a game in hand over the Londoners sees them now as an outside bet.
Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa are in third place five points behind the champions.
But despite Liverpool's slump since Rafa Benitez's rant against Fergie, the Merseysider's are poised in second place two points adrift and having played a game more.
United play their game in hand against Fulham at Old Trafford tonight and could go five clear of the Anfielders.
"At this moment in time, Liverpool are our main challengers and our greatest threat," Sir Alex said.
United kick-started their climb to the top on their return to England from Japan with a 1-0 win at Stoke on Boxing Day.
And Fergie has pinpointed the match in the Potteries and the recent trip to West Ham that also yielded a 1-0 victory as pivotal in United's challenge.
"We went to Stoke and it was a lively pitch and we had just got back from Japan. But we scraped a result because we never gave in," he added.
"We ended up with Ryan Giggs at left back because we wanted to win the match. It was an important marker to lay down after coming back from Japan.
"We needed to win that game. Once we won that we have just gone on.
"Then I looked upon the West Ham match as our hardest away game in the run in. They had been playing their best football of the season and it is a tough place to go to.
"We had to play them at a great moment for them in terms of confidence and form so it was always going to be a big task for us. But the players delivered. We didn't lose our composure or nerve to play. The players know how to handle pressure."
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Not sure I want to discount Chelsea right now and I'm not sure that is actually what SAF said.
What a (deserved in my opinion) compliment to Zola as well....
Interesting that Fergie figured West Ham was the toughest away game on the run-in. The others are:
Newcastle, Fulham, Sunderland, Wigan, Boro, Hull
Not exactly daunting, but Fulham have a good home record, we know Wigan can battle and Boro will be fighting for survival. So, er, 18 points from 18 then, eh?
no 1 priority should be to finish the job saf started in knocking liverpool off their perch as englands most successful club in domestic competition. get that league trophy won and go one better next year.
Think the domestic Liverpool record is gone. However, the CL record, now that needs working on. Maybe, maybe. It would be great if we could break Mourhino's home record.
We are in such a strong position that it really must be demoralising to be a Liverpool, Chelsea or Arsenal player knowing that the juggernaut that is United has such an advantage (I will eat my hat if we do not win tonight) and looks so unbeatable at this stage of the season. Liverpool will now finish second this season but they will need binoculars to see our backs in the distance. Not getting ahead of myself of counting chickens but saying it as I see having analysed the run-ins.
BTW, does anyone else think Chelsea have made the same mistake in appointing Hiddink as they did with Scolari? A big-name manager with a great reputation at international level but at club level no track record and no titles in any of Europe's major leagues. Club managers can make great international manager but I would struggle to name many who've succeeded in making the switch in the opposite direction.
A big-name manager with a great reputation at international level but at club level no track record and no titles in any of Europe's major leagues.
Alias Smith, over the moon
18/02/2009 at 13:35
Might not be seen as Major European leagues but with PSV:
6 Eredivie Titles
4 Domestic Cup Titles
1 European Cup (which was part of a treble, something simialr to us in 1999), plus 1 semi-final.
1 Intercontinal cup with Real Madrid.
He is the best at international level taking weak countries way beyond their expectations. So the man has something. I think he will be a dangerous opponent if he sticks around. His teams usually plan attractive attacking football.
I want to equal pool's domestic title hauls, there european cups where mostly won when only the top team went through thus denying anyone else a chance to compete then they got everyone else thrown out and you only had to play about 8 games to win it, so in modern times it's 2-1 to us in my book, mourhino's home form, porto only sporting offered any threat in portugal,chelsea drew loads but its an impressive record, also the "great" man has also walked into two teams with massive squads and been given loads of money, he never had to build a team ala fergie, I would hate him as our next manager. £pts tonight please,and no injuries
Alias - agree about Hiddink, makes no sense to me. On top of your points, he is effectively part time looking after Russia as well. I think it is a shame, but at the same time, quite funny!
Don't want to rain on your parade there Alias, but Hiddink won 6 Dutch titles, 4 Dutch Cups and the European Cup in 2 spells as manager of PSV Eindhoven - that's a better record than Mourinho. Although I do agree that United are looking good for another title at the minute. Our final 2 home games v setee and the arse could be tricky - but hopefully will be irrelevant by then.
The reason that liverpool seem to "think" they are having a great season is down to 2 simple reasons
1. Liverpool have NOT stepped up a gear in the chase of United, put simply Chelsea and Arsenal have gone down a gear - Liverpool are still in neutral.
2. The way the fixtures have fallen. By the time we play the scousers at OT we will be 8 points clear with a good few games to go to increase that lead on them. The reason liverpool are ONLY 5 points behind at the moment is because they have had the much better run of fixtures in the first half of the season.
This all bodes well for united, i'll be stunned if united dont win the league by at least 10 points.
Alia Smith, what about Sir Fergie making the switch.... he's not done bad as a club manager!!
(for a short time he was in charge of the Scots...)
Sorry for being a clever-sh@t
Nice one SAF, putting a tiny little bit more pressure on Rafa with that statement!
If we have as good a season as last year or at least win the league and one other cup, what do people think are the chances of fergie leaving in the summer???
He said last year that he may go in two years, and also said after he changed his mind about retiring before that after that shambles that he would go out of the blue rather than letting everybody know when he plans on leaving.I have seen a comment from him also that said he wont do what shankley did and leave the team when it is in decline.
He will have equalled liverpools record,have just won three leagues in a row, still be the world champions, and hopefully the european aswell. Will he ever get a better time to???
Alias Smith - Whoever Chelski bought in to replace Scolari isn't going to be good enough, Roman and Kenyon expect them to have the same success United are having otherwise the manager is out of the door and someone else will come in for a season or even half a season. Kenyon should realise having been at Utd that you can't get success and trophies that easily, after all it took SAF a good few yrs to build a team. How did the Chelski board expect Scolari to build his own team over 5 months.
I just hope that once SAF steps down the Glazers don't take the same route and that they give the manager time to build a team.
Season is far from over, and the team needs to be completely focussed at all times or we'll be hauled back. As such Liverpool is not necessarily the main threat, we could be our own worst enemy if not careful.Our overall perfomances for the season have not been wonderful, admittedly there have been moments, however we seem to have got that winning mentality back and have won a few ugly, which succesful teams do. Our squad does look strong now and Fergie has a multitude of options available to him, and we're going to need everyone of the squad from here on in. Fergie has to manage it properly, and he has done that so far this year.
"Alias Smith: (I will eat my hat if we do not win tonight)" let's hope you won't be doing that. Be careful my friend, we may just be ready to get turned over when we least expect it.
Alias;I'm hoping you won't need to eat your hat,especially if it's similar to that worn by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.We have to win and I think the young ones performing well is keeping everyone alive to the task.3-1.
Nicki/Jim - by major European League, I mean England, Spain or Italy. Germany at a push. Yes, I know all about Hiddink's record in Holland but the Dutch league, like the French league, is not at the same level.
Only a fool would write any team in the top 6 at this stage of the season. Remember 1998we blew a 12 point lead to the Arse.
well played fergie!now lets see how they handle the pressure
Over confidence & cockiness is very contagious and often comes back to bite you in the bum! To ALL those out there being talking about breaking all kinds of records & being cocky, please CHILL OUT! Each & every game requires a professional approach. One game at a time! Cheers
Well, well,well. We better not count our chickens like we did in 1992.We had a two point lead over Leeds United with A GAME IN HAND but in the end we lost. And we lost the match to LIVERPOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!