Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson says their title triumph is credit to his players' "focus".

Having missed out on the title in such dramatic circumstances last term, the Reds bounced back in record-breaking fashion and mercilessly marched to glory this time around - demonstrating the character of champions for all to see.

"The players' focus was fantastic this season," Sir Alex said. "They didn't get themselves annoyed by what happened last season. A lot of teams - most teams in the country - would have melted. But not this bunch.

"They went on and did what Manchester United expects of them and raised the bar. You could go on and on and on about losing a title, and we've had to do that in my time. I think our consistency for the last 20 years has been unbelievable. It's been a marvellous performance. We've got 84 points with four games left - fantastic.

"The one thing I said to them at the start of the season was: 'Make sure you do not lose on goal difference again'. Last season was the first time we've ever lost on goal difference. We've always had a superior goal difference to all our opponents. That was the point where I realised that was the challenge: our goal difference must be better than theirs across the road."