Fergie - Reds may have peaked

United boss did not expect Liverpool to maintain title-winning form

Last updated: 20th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Fergie - Reds may have peaked

Ferguson: Doubted Reds' title credentials

Related links

Teams

Also see

Sir Alex Ferguson is not surprised that Liverpool have fallen out of the Premier League title race this season.

The Reds were touted as one of the pre-season favourites after taking Manchester United the distance in the previous campaign, eventually finishing only four points behind their arch-rivals.

However, Rafa Benitez's side could not mount a challenge this time around and now find themselves in a battle to secure the final UEFA Champions League position.

And now Ferguson has stoked the fire ahead over their Sunday clash by claiming Liverpool over-performed last season and says he knew it would be difficult for them to maintain their form.

"I thought it was an exceptional season for them and I thought it would be difficult to achieve that again. That was just my opinion," he told the Daily Star.

Consistency

"Did they over-perform? Yes. I think they did very well. When they got that run going they showed form and consistency.

"I don't know what they are mired in.

"I think that their challenge last year was championship form, but sometimes a team peaks with that particular team and sometimes it's difficult to do again."

The United manager refused to predict which team would win the race to fourth spot, saying that the situation is constantly changing.

"I think everyone expected Liverpool to be better, but they haven't been, and the challenge for them, along with a few others, is to get fourth spot," he added in the Daily Mirror.

"We can all say with some certainty that one of ourselves, Arsenal or Chelsea is going to win the league.

"But no one has any certainty about fourth place, it changes every week."