John O'Shea insists Manchester United are not going backwards even though the gap between the Red Devils and Chelsea appears to be widening by the game.

United entered the holiday period nine points adrift of Jose Mourinho's men and emerged from it 13 points behind following a relatively tame goalless draw at Highbury last night.

The result prompted Sir Alex Ferguson effectively to admit United's championship challenge is over.

Given United have only lost twice this term and are currently on a run of 11 league games without defeat, it is a quite astonishing situation, brought on by Chelsea's phenomenal form.

The Blues have dropped points in just two of their 21 matches all season - one of which was a November defeat at Old Trafford.

Yet, as the inquest begins into a third successive title failure, the statistics back up claims from the United camp that their position is not quite as bad as it looks.

On only five occasions since Ferguson started leading the club to its eight Premier League titles 13 years ago have the Red Devils bettered their current tally of 45 points from 21 games.

The last time was two seasons ago when United appeared to be heading for the championship until Rio Ferdinand's eight-month ban for a missed drugs test sent them spiralling downhill over the second half of the campaign.

Since then, United have been left gasping, first at Arsenal's unbeaten run to the title, then by Chelsea's apparently unstoppable rise under Mourinho.

But, with #7million Serbian international Nemanja Vidic due to arrive in the next few days and more moves in the transfer market planned both this month and next summer, there is genuine optimism around Old Trafford that the seemingly unbridgeable divide with Chelsea can be negotiated.

"It is not as if we have gone backwards," said O'Shea. "Someone was telling me this is one of our best points tallies for the last 10 years.

"What we have not done is step up to the level Chelsea have reached and that is the next challenge for us now.

"We have taken eight points from 12 over the Christmas period but when you see the pace Chelsea are setting, it really needed to be 12.

"But we have a few players coming back and a few new lads coming in this month which will freshen everyone up, so hopefully we can finish the season strongly and match the run Chelsea are making."

If there is one consolation for Ferguson as he strains his neck to see just how far Mourinho's men have sailed above him, it will be the knowledge that old adversary Arsene Wenger appears to have far more acute problems to solve.

It is now four years since the Gunners last beat United in league combat but rarely in that time has the Arsenal attack been kept so quiet as it was on the Red Devils final trip to Highbury.

The ease with which Rio Ferdinand and Wes Brown dealt with Thierry Henry's threat only fuelled a belief among the visitors that while a point away at Arsenal represents a decent return, it should have been three. And, one suspects, had it been Chelsea, it would have been.

"We felt we had them," admitted O'Shea. "Once we got into the second half we could sense if anyone was going to win, it would be us."