Boss: Two wins for the title

Sir Alex Ferguson feels the title is almost in touching distance after his team overcame a difficult test against Arsenal at Old Trafford.

The Reds came from behind to beat Arsene Wenger's side in a game that Sir Alex considered "absolutely outstanding", even if his players were below par in the first period.

"Arsenal were the better team in the first half," admitted Sir Alex, after describing his experience of watching the match as "torture."

"I thought we were nervous, I thought our passing was poor, I thought the confidence and the way we expressed ourselves was poor. I couldn’t wait for half-time.

"I had Anderson and Tevez to come on and when Arsenal scored it forced my hand. I thought we were fantastic after that.

"Wayne (Rooney) could have had a hat-trick, we played some good football and Arsenal had some good moments themselves. It was just an incredible game.

"I watched the Liverpool-Arsenal match and thought it was fantastic. But the quality of that game today was absolutely outstanding. You’ll not get a better game this year."

Rooney was denied several times by Jens Lehmann, but the Arsenal goalkeeper could do nothing about either of United's goals, a clinically retaken penalty by Cristiano Ronaldo and a delightful free-kick from Owen Hargreaves.

Sir Alex said: "The manner in which Ronaldo hit the second penalty was unbelievable. It was six inches inside the post, low down – no keeper in the world would have saved it.

"And I thought it was going to be Owen who took the free-kick – it was his distance. He’s very good at those ones – he scored one against Fulham earlier in the season of course – and he whipped it in brilliantly."

Sir Alex revealed before this match that he'd marked Middlesbrough away last week as a potential banana skin. And he surely had this fixture circled in red for danger as well.

"We’ve got over a nervous day today. We knew Arsenal are such a good team and there's been nothing between the clubs in the games we've played over the years.

"I think Arsenal are unlucky not to get something from this game. Edwin (van der Sar) was fantastic, his confidence and experience shone through and it saved us at times really.

"Arsenal put everything into it, they gave their biggest effort, you couldn’t have asked for any more from them and yet we still managed to win it. So that was a big, big game for us today, a bit nervy at times, but we’ve come through it.

"We’ve got a week’s rest now so we can freshen up the players before Blackburn away. It’s a local derby and it’s always hard and then we’ve got Chelsea at Chelsea.

"I said (last week) if we won our next three games we’d win the league. We’ve won one of them, we’ve got two to go – if we win our next two games, we’re champions."

Sir Alex Ferguson was talking to Sky Sports and MUTV.