MATCH QUOTES

Last updated : 29 October 2006 By Ed

Rooney:

"It's good to be back.

"There has been a lot of talk by a lot of people over the last few weeks saying I couldn't do it any more, stuff like that, so the feeling when the first goal went in was brilliant.

"Although I am not too worried about not scoring as long as we get the result, it was a relief, especially as I had gone such a long time without scoring.

"To finish the hat-trick was nice. I am delighted and happy just to be back amongst the goals again and to have secured the three points in what was a big game for us. I'm really proud and happy with the performance."

 

Ferguson:

"Rooney was due to score at some point, no doubt about that.

"I'm just pleased he's got off the mark. The longer these things go on for strikers, they start to doubt things.

"But they're all the same strikers. When you score the confidence goes up and you saw as soon as he scored there was more to come.

"It was a fantastic result for us. The first half, in particular, we played some fantastic football.

"In the first 25 minutes we could have been four-up and we were really very unlucky with some of the opportunities we had.

"We played some great football and I really enjoyed it.

"I think you want to try and play your normal game. We have got great pace and ability up front, and we got good service into those players."

Title chances:

"Chelsea have laid down a marker but we want to challenge them. There is a growing confidence within the club, we are looking very strong and we will have a good go.

 

Fat Sam:

"Wayne has proved beyond doubt he is through his bad patch and why he is quite rightly regarded as the best English player in the Premiership.

"His hat-trick was well deserved and it just shows the people who were writing him off were talking nonsense.

"Apart from the third goal, there was very little we could do to stop him. The first two were magnificent goals made of outstanding qualiy.

"Sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say on the day, we could not compete with them.

"We might be close to Manchester United in the table but in terms of spending power and quality of squad, the difference today showed.

"We can compete with most teams but when the top boys are on song, it is very different.

"In the end, the title will come down to a battle between United's flair and Chelsea's resilience. The one who suffers the least number of injuries will probably come out on top."