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United look to take their\n frustration out on Rams

Carlos Queiroz has challenged a Manchester United squad still smarting from their premature FA Cup exit to take their frustration out on the Premier League's whipping boys Derby County today.

United's hopes of repeating their 1999 treble were shattered by an unexpected home defeat by Portsmouth last weekend and Sir Alex Ferguson's assistant has warned Derby, who were thrashed 6-1 by Chelsea in midweek, that they could be in for another torrid time.

"We were very down after the Portsmouth game," Queiroz said. "There was a lot of frustration and sadness amongst the team and the staff, but the most important thing now is to show the right attitude, the Manchester United attitude and bounce back from what happened. We need to keep moving forward."

Queiroz went on to state that United could not afford to rely on other teams slipping up, although that is exactly what Arsenal did when they were held to a goalless draw at Wigan Athletic last Sunday.

That has tilted the see-saw title race back in United's favor, with the champions now just two points adrift of the leaders with a game in hand.

Arsenal will seek to get their show back on the road at home to Middlesbrough and manager Arsene Wenger's preparations for their visit have been helped by the return to fitness of both Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott.

"We have gone through a difficult patch but we have to keep our calm and focus and belief," the Frenchman said. "Four points have been dropped in the past three league games, but you go through a patch like that and the negative is a deficit in points."

"The positive is we didn't lose a game. I am still very confident we still have good chances to win the title. We want now to come back to winning habits straight away against Middlesbrough on Saturday," Wenger said.

Chelsea, who are traveling to Sunderland, bounced back from their humiliating FA Cup exit to Barnsley by hitting Derby for six, which moved them to within five points of Arsenal with a game in hand over the leaders.

Frank Lampard's four goals helped ease some of the pressure on manager Avram Grant, but the England midfielder's subsequent criticism of the club's failure to table an offer of a new contract suggests all is far from well behind the scenes at Stamford Bridge.

Grant insists Chelsea can still muscle their way back into the title race with Arsenal and Manchester United still to visit West London.

"We have won more than 80 percent of the games in the league since I came," said the man who succeeded Jose Mourinho in September. "It is enough to be close to the top two and maybe the right time to be there. We need to continue to play like we have played most of the league games and then who knows? Anything can happen."

"I can tell you that we will fight until the end. I never give in and I will not start now," Grant said.

Liverpool go into their Anfield clash with relegation-threatened Reading buoyed by reaching the last eight of the Champions League and the form of Fernando Torres, whose winner against Inter Milan in midweek took his tally to 26 from 35 games since his ?21 million (US$42 million) move from Atletico Madrid.

With Aston Villa, Portsmouth, Blackburn Rovers and Manchester City all having faded away over the last few weeks, the battle for fourth place and the final qualifying place for next season's Champions League now appears to have come down to a straight fight between Liverpool and Everton, who travel to Fulham tomorrow.

At the bottom, the biggest match of the weekend sees Wigan Athletic entertain Bolton Wanderers tomorrow, while Birmingham City can drag Newcastle United into deep trouble if they can produce a win over Kevin Keegan's side on Monday evening.
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