Goal.com

6 May 2012 19:15:00

The former Tottenham player has refused to concede the title to the Red Devils' rivals, instead he is looking forward to a dramatic final day and their trip to Sunderland

Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick is determined to fight until the end of the season after keeping pace with Manchester City at the top of the table by claiming a victory a home to Swansea City.

With their neighbours having defeated Newcastle earlier in the day thanks to a double from Yaya Toure, the Red Devils moved level on points with their rivals with three points at Old Trafford, but with an inferior goal difference.

But Carrick admitted to Sky Sports that the Manchester City result had a psychological effect on his side, saying: “It does, because it’s natural, we were hoping for something and City won.

“So we had to perform. We had to go out there and win. It was our last home game, we had to give something to the fans. [We go into] next week and give ourselves a chance [to win the title].”

“We were watching the game at Newcastle and hoping for something and it didn’t quite happen, we just had to be professional and motivate ourselves to win the game and take it on another week.

“We started well, scored the goals, obviously we were looking to score a few more, but it wasn’t to be, but we take the three points and hope for next week.”

Manchester United created numerous opportunities, with only Rio Ferdinand out of the outfield players failing to record a shot on target.

But Carrick praised the efforts of his team-mates, adding: “First half we had a number of good opportunities and it just didn’t quite go in, if we had scored a few more then we might have pushed on.

“But it was about winning the game and credit to the boys. After watching the game before, it can be difficult to go on and perform.”

United now rely on Roberto Mancini’s men dropping points at relegation-threatened QPR next Sunday, while the Red Devils travel to Sunderland, otherwise the title will go to the Blues for the first time since 1968.

And Carrick was coy on his side’s chances: “Who knows, football’s a funny game as they say and stranger things have happened in the past, but we’ve just got to concentrate on ourselves.

“It’s not easy going up north to Sunderland, they gave us a tough game and we’ve just got to win and see what happens elsewhere.

“You’ve got to keep believing, that’s what we do. We’re professionals and we want to win things.

“We’ve still got a chance of winning the league, we can’t look past that, so we’ll have a good week’s training this week and keep believing.”

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