UNITED 2 CHARLTON 0

The Guardian

Sir Alex Ferguson has always been blessed with supreme self-belief but it has been a long time since he has worn such a confident, expectant smile. To see the Manchester United manager right now is to see a man returning to the peak of his abilities, fit and focused, determined and driven, and seemingly in complete control of his own destiny. A man who, quite simply, cannot possibly see how his team can fail.

It is a level of confidence that is typically associated with Jose Mourinho, but with none of the look-at-me braggadocio. Ferguson is refusing to say anything that could encourage complacency but his body language is far removed from the familiar image of the gum-grinding Glaswegian furiously eyeballing referees and pointing at his stopwatch, blood pressure rising. The 2007 Ferguson has been calm and relaxed, radiating confidence. Even press conferences have become fun for the oldest manager in the business; full of gags and wisecracks.

His only complaint on Saturday was the state of the Old Trafford pitch and even that was only a minor grievance. That apart, Ferguson was thoroughly satisfied as he left the stadium, laughing and joking and wreathed in smiles. Whistling even. Another game had been chalked off and Ferguson did not seem in the slightest bit concerned by Chelsea's recent improvement. "We don't need to look over our shoulders at Chelsea," he volunteered. "I don't think we need to do that in our position."

When he does, however, he must like what he sees. Chelsea do not have another league game in February and when they kick off against Portsmouth on March 3 the margin will be 12 points if United win at Fulham and Liverpool. Taking into account their vastly superior goal difference, the gap would effectively be 13 points. Unlucky 13, surely, for Mourinho and everyone else at Stamford Bridge.

Edwin van der Sar, Michael Carrick and Cristiano Ronaldo were all unavailable but Ferguson's squad has looked more robust than Chelsea's for some time and it was two of the replacements, Park Ji-sung and Darren Fletcher, who scored the headed goals. Alan Pardew's team did better than had been expected but there was still a considerable imbalance of talent between the two sides and it was tempting to wonder what mayhem Ronaldo could have caused against a full-back such as Osei Sankofa. Ferguson reserved most of his acclaim for his defenders, admitting he was "surprised" by Charlton's adventurous approach and telling Pardew afterwards that he thought they would stay up.

Fletcher's goal came at the point of the game when Charlton were audaciously pressing forward and had forced a succession of corners. Yet Tomasz Kuszczak, deputising for Van der Sar, scarcely had a save to make and United have kept three clean sheets in succession, having previously gone through a sequence of seven games without one. On this evidence, Ferguson's confidence seems fully justified.

The Telegraph

Think of the candidates for this season's Footballer of the Year and Paul Scholes, Cristiano Ronaldo and possibly even Ryan Giggs will spring to mind alongside the claims of Didier Drogba, the forward seemingly keeping Chelsea's Premiership challenge alive, but how far down the list would you find Wayne Rooney?

The player described by Sven-Goran Eriksson following England's abject World Cup last summer as the "golden boy of English football" would probably struggle to make a top 10 of leading performers in the Premiership this season, despite the sporadic flashes of brilliance that he has produced for Manchester United since August.

Twelve months ago, with United badly wounded by the exit of Roy Keane and the eyesight problem that accounted for five months of Scholes' season, Sir Alex Ferguson's team became almost embarrassingly reliant on Rooney's ability in order to keep them within touching distance of Chelsea.

But the lead violinist has been relegated to a supporting role this season as Scholes, Ronaldo and Giggs have combined to transform United into the most lethal attacking force in the country.

Recent performances have suggested that the 21-year-old is on the upsurge again, however, and, perhaps crucially, in the absence of the ill Ronaldo, he carried United to victory against a determined Charlton team showing signs that they may be the team most likely to escape the bottom three.

Despite Rooney's mixed season, Ferguson admits that a burst of form from the player between now and May could be telling for Old Trafford's title hopes.

Ferguson said: "If Wayne reaches the kind of form that he achieved this time last year, we have got an even better chance. He was devastating last year and there are glimpses of that coming back now. Scoring against Arsenal, his double against Portsmouth and another one against Watford. These are all signs that he is getting back.

"We are now in a good position, there is no question about that. In the league, we are now at the stage where we have to look after ourselves. We shouldn't be concentrating on our rivals. Let's do our job first."

The Times

It is just under four years since Sir Alex Ferguson first talked of “squeaky-bum time”, a phrase that so accurately summed up the tension of a championship race that it would soon find its way into the Collins English Dictionary. To judge from his demeanour on Saturday evening, though, as he walked out of Old Trafford with a smile and a spring in his step, Manchester United's 65-year-old manager is experiencing nothing of the sort.

Nor, he believes, should his players. He talked on Saturday of how “sometimes in these situations there is a tendency to look over your shoulder and concentrate on the team that is chasing”, but, for all that José Mourinho will try to unsettle them, Ferguson feels that United need only look forward, secure in the knowledge that they will win the Barclays Premiership title if they can maintain anything like the form that has helped them to establish a six-point lead over Chelsea.

By the time Mourinho's men play their next Premiership match, an evening kick-off away to Portsmouth on March 3, they could be 12 points adrift of United. It is indicative of Ferguson's newfound calm that he seemed blissfully unaware of that prospect when it was put to him on Saturday evening; usually by this stage of the season he has memorised the fixture list to the extent that he can tell you not only where and when his rivals are playing, but also in which games they are likely to slip up.

This was not a weekend when Ferguson or Mourinho would have expected either team to drop points, but United were made to sweat for their victory by a Charlton Athletic side who showed more resistance than most visiting teams at Old Trafford this season.

Against obdurate opposition and with Cristiano Ronaldo absent because of a cold, it was one of the least inspiring performances of the season from United, but, as much as Charlton fought, the result was never in serious doubt after Park Ji Sung scored with a header in the 24th minute, even if it took another headed goal from Darren Fletcher, eight minutes from time, to settle matters once and for all.

More searching examinations await United in their next two Premiership matches, away to Fulham and Liverpool, but, should they emerge triumphant from both of those fixtures, even Mourinho's belief may begin to waver.