He said: "It's tight at the minute. Watching Arsenal yesterday and ourselves today, probably both sides didn't play as well as we can but won. Hopefully in the not too distant future we can move ahead of them.

"We've got a few games coming up in a short space of time and hopefully we can take advantage of that."

Rooney believed United's win against Everton - courtesy of two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo - proved the Reds have the fight to retain their title.

"In the second half we applied a lot of pressure, they caved in and we got the second goal," he said.

"I think in the second half they knew we would attack and they sat back deeper. We've got to give ourselves credit for the way we kept on."