Will United suffer a similar slump as Barca?

MANCHESTER United head into a crucial 11-day period which could very well define their quintuple dreams this season, starting with tomorrow morning’s Premiership game against Newcastle.

The English and European champions then face Fulham in the FA Cup, and Inter Milan next week at Old Trafford for the second-leg Champions League knockout round game before hosting Liverpool in a game that could prove vital to United’s Premiership title dreams this season.

Sir Alex Ferguson could not have chosen a better time to sound off a warning to his charges, especially the young ones such as Rafael and Danny Welbeck that complacency would be costly and would not be tolerated in his dressing room.

The Scot pointed to Barcelona’s recent slump in the La Liga after an impressive first half of the season, which led the league by 11 points at the start of the year. That lead is now cut to just four points, no thanks to their recent erratic form, which includes the latest 4-3 loss to Atletico Madrid.

The question now is: with United still challenging on three fronts – the Premiership, the FA Cup and the Champions League – will they crack or start to get complacent, as they once did in 1998, where they threw away a 12-point lead to hand Arsenal the Premiership crown?

Are Man United “untouchable” this season?

MAN United extended its lead at the summit of the Premiership table early this morning, brushing Fulham aside easily with a 3-0 victory.

In the build-up to this game, Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger has declared the Red Devils currently “untouchable”, and Sir Alex Ferguson has also said that the title race is now down to his United team and Liverpool, with Chelsea blowing their chances after sacking Luiz Felipe Scolari.

While some critics are saying that Man United are due for a bad patch soon, after a nine-game winning streak (the last time they failed to collect three points was against Spurs in December) and a 14-game unbeaten run.

Are Man United “untouchable” this season? Let’s play it by the numbers.