Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has hinted he sees only Manchester City as a challenger to their Premier League leadership.

Chelsea lie SEVEN points behind the leaders and six behind City.

United manager Fergie declared: "Tonight's results have drawn us away from Chelsea a little bit further.

"We're still ahead in the league but City are on our tails and it's going to be a long season.

"The importance of winning 1-0 in certain games is that your opponents know the resilience is there.

"If you look at some of the really important 1-0s we've had... go back to beating Newcastle when they were nine points clear of us in 1996 - our 1-0 that night won us the league.

"There are important 1-0 victories. We've had many of them."