Too Many Draws For Sir Alex's Liking

Sir Alex Ferguson was left to rue Manchester United's latest draw as they lost ground on Chelsea in the Premier League title battle.

The Reds played out a bore-draw 0-0 with rivals Manchester City at Eastlands in a game where neither side really fashioned any chances, while Chelsea managed a 1-0 win over Fulham.

As a result, Carlo Ancelotti's side have a four-point advantage over United in the race for the Premier League title, and the number of games being drawn by the Reds has to be a problem for Sir Alex.

United have drawn six of their 12 Premier League games, with five of those away from home, and that is something that fans are not used too. There has been a lot of points dropped, especially in games where the side has lost leads, which understandably irks Ferguson.

If United had managed to convert even two of those six draws into wins then they would be sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League table and the Premier League betting reflects their dropped points.

Speaking about the latest draw, the manager said: "It's a decent result but we don't count draws away from home as the target before the game. 

"Our target is to win the game and I think we had enough possession to do that."

People who bet on Premier League weekend games may want to bear these words in mind when they make their selections.

One man who is not going to play a role in United's bid for the Premier League title in the near future is injury-plagued Owen Hargreaves.

The midfielder was forced off after only five minutes of his first start since September 2008 at the weekend, and the diagnosis is a hamstring problem that rules him out for the next five weeks.