Ferguson Warns United That Minds Must Not Wander Against Bolton

Sir Alex Ferguson has warned his Manchester United side that they cannot be distracted by the impending challenge of Liverpool as they seek to bolster their title prospects against Bolton Wanderers at Old Trafford tonight.

United will establish a three-point lead over Arsenal if they beat Gary Megson's relegation-threatened side in their game in hand. But Ferguson, who has expressed concern at his team's profligacy in the FA Cup defeat by Portsmouth and Saturday's league win at the basement club Derby County, admits there must be an improvement on the Pride Park performance to fully exploit Arsenal's stumble, before the meeting with in-form Liverpool on Easter Sunday.

"There are big games coming up and Liverpool is one of them, especially when you consider Chelsea are playing Arsenal on the same day," said the United manager. "But when you see what happened at Derby on Saturday, not taking our chances, you realize you can't take anything for granted. Sure, there are big weekends ahead but the other matches are just as important. If we perform well and take our chances then we'll win the match against Bolton. But it's important we respect our opponents.

"Some of our football recently has been terrific and there's good penetration in the team. It's encouraging that we're making so many chances. Perhaps the forwards just need to relax a little in front of goal."

Bolton are one of only three clubs to have beaten United in the league this season, Manchester City and West Ham United the others, but the architect of November's victory - Nicolas Anelka - has been sorely missed since his departure to Chelsea and four consecutive league defeats have left Megson's team languishing third from bottom of the table.

"Obviously they are missing Nicolas Anelka's goals but they have Kevin Davies up front and he will do everything he possibly can to unsettle us," added Ferguson. "He's a physical lad and we have to deal with that but I think Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand have the height and ability to do that.

"They [Bolton] are fighting for survival and any team fighting for survival have to fight. That's the name of the game. I thought they had got themselves clear of trouble but in this league if you lose a couple of games you are back in the mix. Everyone expects Derby to go down, Fulham are the next one and then it is a scramble. You've got a lot of teams down there."

Ferguson may bring Gary Neville back into the first-team fold tonight after 12 injury-plagued months and is expected to keep faith with Ben Foster after the 24-year-old's encouraging display at Derby. Edwin van der Sar is likely to miss out with a groin injury and although Tomasz Kuszczak has completed a one-match suspension the United manager is likely to reward Foster with only his second appearance of the season.

The Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso, meanwhile, has claimed that a run of seven successive victories in all competitions has galvanized Rafael Benítez's team for Sunday's Old Trafford encounter. "We are in a good moment, playing well and scoring goals, and we are really looking forward to Old Trafford," he said.