Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson can see this season's Premier League race being decided amongst no less than five contenders.

Although he stopped short of highlighting both Manchester City and Tottenham by name, the current league table makes it clear who any newcomers in the title fight will be if United, Chelsea and Arsenal are challenged.

" I wouldn't be betting against it being a five-horse race," said Ferguson. "I think there is a lot of twists and turns in the race.

"The result at Stoke has had a galvanising effect on the club but we have to motor on now. At the moment Chelsea have done very little wrong but if you look at our programme, we have had a much harder programme than the rest. We've been to Everton, Sunderland, Stoke, Bolton - all these difficult places where nobody enjoys going, but we've got them out of the road now."