Source: Eurosport
Carrick still wary of Liverpool threat
Michael Carrick has rejected any notion that Manchester United might get complacent as they close in on a Premier League title hat-trick.United tackle Tottenham on Saturday evening knowing four wins and a draw from their final six games will be enough to confirm a third successive league championship, and their 18th overall.It would allow the Red Devils to draw level with Liverpool's long-standing record, Rafael Benitez's men the only realistic challengers following Chelsea's failure to overcome Everton on Wednesday.The task looks fairly simple for a side who have dropped points on only nine occasions this season.However, speaking at a NSPCC Young People's Centre in Warrington, Carrick reaffirmed United's intention to keep their foot on the gas."We are in a good position but we will not get complacent," said Carrick."There are some hard games left, starting against Tottenham, and we know Liverpool are still a threat."In a lot of people's eyes last week we were not going to win the title. All of a sudden the same people are now saying it is a given."There are a lot of matches to play and there may be more twists and turns. Hopefully there aren't but we must be ready for them."Meanwhile Carrick believes United must keep "world-class" players like Carlos Tevez to stay at the summit of world football.The Argentina striker expressed his dissatisfaction with life at Old Trafford earlier this week, bemoaning the fact he has often been left out of the starting XI in big games this season.Fellow striker Dimitar Berbatov's arrival last summer has pushed Tevez down the pecking order - to the dismay of some United fans - and the former West Ham frontman claims he has "many offers" to go elsewhere.But Carrick, for one, hopes he stays with the Red Devils to fight for his place."We want him to stay, Carlos is a top player. He has scored some very important goals for us over the last few years," Carrick told The Sun."We've got a world-class squad, we've got world-class players and Carlos is one of them."We want to keep moving forward as a team and as a squad so we'd like to keep our best players here."But it's down to the manager. I'm sure he knows the best way to make sure we do keep progressing."United are set to welcome Wes Brown back into the fold against Carrick's old club.Brown has reported no reaction to his foot injury following a reserve team outing at Preston on Monday, which is just as well given Gary Neville and John O'Shea are both likely to be out for 'weeks' according to manager Sir Alex Ferguson.The pair may well be back before the end of the season, with Neville's injury not apparently another broken metatarsal, having been ruled out of the 2002 World Cup with a similar injury.However, Brown, who apart from two substitute appearances has been out of action since October, will be a valuable addition to face Harry Redknapp's men, along with Rio Ferdinand, who was rested for the midweek win over Portsmouth.[LNB]
