Wayne Rooney urges Manchester United to believe in title chances

Wayne Rooney has told his Manchester United team to believe they can win the Premier League title, with the captain citing the experience of previous triumphs and Louis van Gaal's aura.

The 3-0 win over Liverpool at Old Trafford means United are only eight points behind Chelsea at the start of the festive period. The 20-times champions have traditionally been strong finishers and have won eight titles without being on top of the league at Christmas.

Until United play Liverpool again, at Anfield on March 21st, there are 13 games, of which Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur appear the toughest opposition. This run offers Van Gaal’s team a chance to continue their sequence of six successive victories.

Of the club's Premier League prospects, Rooney said: "We have to believe we can win the title. We are eight points behind and coming into a busy period. If we can win our games and the others have one bad result then there is nothing there [in margin]. We have been here before but we have a lot of new players and this is where the experience of myself, Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher can rub off on the other players.

“We have to keep winning our games and hopefully get back to the top and you never know. We have shown a great resilience. Some of the games haven’t gone the way we would like but we are winning them and that is a great quality to have. We won the league two years ago and we weren’t great in a lot of those games but we got the results.

“I have seen Chelsea a couple of times this season where they have not played great but have nicked it as well. We need to try and get the performances right and, if we do that, then we are confident we will win the games.”

Significant period

After Saturday’s trip to Aston Villa, United host Newcastle United six days later on St Stephen’s Day, visit Tottenham Hotspur 48 hours after that and on New Year’s Day meet Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium. These four matches in 11 days offer a maximum of 12 points and Rooney reiterated how significant this period can be.

“I think Christmas is going to be a very important time for us,” Rooney said. “If we can keep picking up points and winning games, then hopefully the other teams will drop points and we can be right in there going into the second half of the season.”

The striker, who scored the opener against Liverpool, said the players have total belief in Van Gaal’s methods. “Everyone can see he has an aura about him. He has experience. When things weren’t going great for us earlier on in the season, he knew what he was doing, he knew the form would come back and that we would win games.

“There was no panic, he stayed calm because he has been through it all before. Thankfully the lads have believed in him and what he has said.

“It was a massive change when the manager and the new staff came in and it was a lot for us to take in and adapt to the things around the changing ground and on the pitch.

“He is a great manager. He is great with the players. He is honest with the players who are playing and those who aren’t, which is great. We have a great team spirit. We all want to be successful. As long as we keep working we won’t be far away.”

Superb saves

Rooney also lauded David de Gea, who made several superb saves against Liverpool, as the world No1 despite having previously claimed this to be his England team-mate,

Joe Hart

. But now Rooney said: “He is the best keeper in the world. The performances he has shown for us have been fantastic.”

United's captain played in midfield on Sunday and believes this could extend his playing days. "I think it can help me in years to come," Rooney said. "You see top players retire like Michael Owen, " Rooney said for instance. "He was one of the world's best players but I don't think he could drop back into midfield, so once his pace had gone, through injuries, that was kind of the end. But I feel I can drop back and I am sure it will give me an extra few years at the end of my career." The Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera, Japan's manager, Javier Aguirre, Atlético Madrid's captain, Gabi, and 38 others have been named in an alleged case of match-fixing involving a La Liga match in the 2010-11 season. Spain's anti-corruption prosecutor filed its case in a Valencia court on Monday. Guardian Service