By MARTIN BLACKBURN
MICHAEL CARRICK admits the hurt of last season’s title collapse will be a painful reminder to Manchester United over the final four months of this campaign.
The in-form leaders head to Tottenham today having taken 28 points from a possible 30 since their last defeat, at Norwich in mid-November.
But Carrick faces his old club at White Hart Lane knowing one slip will give Manchester City hope they can peg back United again — just as they did when they nicked the title in May.
He said: “We’re in a good position but if we don’t keep doing the right things we know what can happen.
“It’s not a case of being more determined this time. We would be hungry to win the league regardless of what happened last year.
“We were hurting in the summer. It wasn’t a nice thing that we went through on that last day. But it’s gone now, we’ve got to focus on what is ahead of us.
“We know City are not going to go away but there are so many games left that if you spend too much time thinking about who is getting what result it can drive you mad. We just have to keep winning matches.”
United’s 21-goal top-scorer, former Arsenal star Robin van Persie, is guaranteed a hot reception when he returns to North London today.
But Carrick, Speaking at a PUMA King What’s in your nature event, said: “Robin will get stick from the Spurs fans I’m sure, but he won’t mind that and he’d love to score against them.
“I don’t think we expected him to come in and score that many goals.
“It just seems like this was the right player to the right club for him at the right time. He’s come here and settled straight in and that’s exactly what we hoped for. He’s been terrific.
“It was a good signing for us, giving us an extra threat.
“The other forwards have done well but Robin is grabbing all the headlines, and rightly so far, for what he’s done.”
Tottenham are in decent shape themselves going into today’s clash and midfielder Carrick, 31, added: “This could be one of the toughest games we’ve got left this season.
“We’ve had good results there in the past but we know it will be tough, it always is.
“You’ve got to think that one day soon Spurs could challenge for the title. This season it’s too much to ask but last season they were challenging at this time of year — until we went there and won.”
Today’s clash kicks-off the start of a big few weeks for United with their Champions League showdown with Real Madrid less than a month away and crucial games to come in the Premier league and FA Cup.
United boss Ferguson believes Carrick is having his best season in a red shirt and this week called the England midfielder’s form ‘absolutely brilliant’.
However, the former West Ham star admits that he needs to make sure he finishes the season with some silverware to make it truly memorable.
He added: “I’m happy with the way things are going, but I’m not getting carried away. People are saying nice things but I’m just doing the same things as I’ve done since I’ve been here.
“If that ends up as a good season for me, then great.
But it’s not so much my own form, it’s about winning things. We’re still going on three fronts and it’s a big few weeks for us — but I’m sure we’ll be saying that for the rest of the season.”
