Ryan Giggs believes he is on the verge of an historic ninth Premiership title with Manchester United.
Giggs's team are nine points clear of second-placed Chelsea with nine games to play - though Chelsea have a game in hand - and the Wales international is convinced the title is on the way to Old Trafford for the first time since 2003.
If United can hold onto their lead at the top of the table, Wales winger Giggs, 33, will become the first player ever to win nine English championships. Giggs, who made his 700th appearance for United in their 1-0 win at Liverpool on Saturday, is tied with former Liverpool duo Phil Neal and Alan Hansen on eight medals at present.
One more title will make history for Giggs and, speaking after John O'Shea's 90th minute winner at Anfield, he told MUTV: ‘Chelsea are running out of games now to catch us so all we've got to do now is keep winning games.
‘The squad has looked really strong, we saw that at Reading on Tuesday in the Cup. And we are in a healthy position as a team, but we have still got to go out and get the results.
‘As for me, there's no better way to celebrate playing 700 games, I can enjoy it now. To come to Anfield is the most difficult game to play in.’
Giggs gave United's back-four the credit for victory against their arch rivals and added: ‘Defence won us that game. We didn't play particularly well, but I think we had the feeling that if we did get a chance in the second-half we would put it away.
‘When we went down to 10 men, we knew we were up against it. Luckily we had that break and John (O'Shea) put it away. You are not always going to win well, it's not the four nils and three nils that win championships it's digging out results like this.’
United's success on Merseyside was their second successive late win in the Premiership following Cristiano Ronaldo's decisive goal in the closing minutes at Fulham and manager Sir Alex Ferguson has no doubts about the impact of the result on the title race.
‘It's a championship win, there's no question about that,’ Ferguson said. ‘I know there's a long way to go but it's a massive result.
‘You can't minimize the importance of this victory. We had to really earn our corn, when they brought (Peter) Crouch on it was the Alamo.
‘They were just relying on long balls and crosses, they weren't trying to break us down. I think that in a way we deserved it for a lot of reasons, the grittiness of the team and the effort we have put in.’
Match-winner O'Shea admitted his goal was certain to have sparked celebrations back home in Ireland, a country with a strong United fanbase.
He said: ‘It was the best goal I have ever scored, there will be a few pints sunk back in Ireland to celebrate that.
‘It was a great free-kick in from Ronaldo and their keeper dropped it in front of me nicely, and I was able to put it away. It's something I will cherish for a long time. It was an amazing feeling.’
