Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick has dismissed the notion that the Premier League is already a two-horse race.With the two Manchester clubs both recording 100 per cent starts from their opening four games, scoring 33 goals between them in the process, some pundits have already written off the chasing pack. Ahead of Sunday's Old Trafford showdown with Chelsea, Carrick does not believe that is the smartest move. Under new coach Andre Villas-Boas, the Blues are only two points behind, recording three straight wins since drawing their opening match at Stoke. Obviously that didn't happen. "We are playing well and we are top of the league. But we still respect the other teams for the threat they pose to us."
Chelsea are not lacking in motivation. They had tended to have the better of their meetings with United, including scoring a controversial victory over their old rivals at Stamford Bridge in March after which Sir Alex Ferguson ended up with a five-match touchline ban for criticising the performance of referee Martin Atkinson. With Chris Smalling seemingly certain to start at right-back, Jonny Evans and Phil Jones are scrapping it out for the right to partner Ferdinand. Anderson will return in central midfield, where he will be paired with either Carrick, Darren Fletcher or this week's goalscoring hero Ryan Giggs, who tends not to play two games in a row but was instrumental in those previous Chelsea triumphs. Park Ji-sung is another big-game player, although it is hard to see how Nani or Ashley Young could be excluded and Ferguson revealed yesterday that Javier Hernandez will be named in attack alongside Wayne Rooney. Having played down United's present position, Carrick is aware that victory would put them at least five points clear of all their major rivals, with the exception of City. It is a situation they would have been more than happy with when the campaign began five weeks ago and, having dropped just two points in their last 23 home games, one they are confident of securing.
"When we looked at the fixture list at the start of the season, it looked like a really tough start," Carrick said. "We have to be really happy to reach this stage in this position. "Chelsea is the next game and you want to be taking points off your rivals, especially at home. "We have been good at that over the last couple of years - last season especially. Hopefully we can carry that on."
