LONDON

Manchester United sit just two points behind Chelsea in the table but as they prepare to visit Stamford Bridge tomorrow there is a sense that something is not quite right with the Premier League champions.

Last month’s 2-0 defeat at Liverpool was a sobering experience for Alex Ferguson and was concrete proof the loss of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid and Carlos Tevez to Manchester City has severely diminished his team as an attacking force.

There are also worries at the back with Rio Ferdinand clearly off the pace as he struggles with a back injury and Nemanja Vidic, who was sent off against Liverpool, jittery.

While defeat at Stamford Bridge would not be catastrophic, Ferguson knows that a repeat of the Anfield debacle at Chelsea could put Carlo Ancelotti’s team in the driving seat in the title race as winter looms.

"It’s always a hard game at Chelsea, but we’ll deal with it better than we did at Anfield, I’m sure of that," Ferguson told Inside United magazine on Wednesday.

"They’re shaping up to be the main challengers. It seems they’ll be the ones to get in front of."

United lacked fluency in their last Premier League game, a 2-0 home win against Blackburn Rovers, while against CSKA Moscow in the Champions League at Old Trafford on Tuesday their defence, minus Ferdinand and Vidic, was a shambles.

Two goals in the last five minutes inspired by substitute Wayne Rooney earned United a 3-3 draw to secure their place in the knockout round but it was a performance that offered plenty of encouragement to Chelsea.

Ancelotti’s favoured midfield diamond is beginning to shine, giving the Blues both security at the back and potency up front where Didier Drogba looks back to his best after two goals in the 2-2 draw at Atletico Madrid on his return from a Uefa ban.

"Their consistency, compared to last season, has probably been a bit better under Ancelotti," Ferguson said.

"He’s brought in the system he used at AC Milan of the diamond in the middle of the pitch. It’s hard to break down when you get into their third, because they’ve got bodies compacted into the central area of the pitch.

"Ancelotti’s got the two strikers, and that is a major change compared to Scolari and Ranieri."

Biggest rivals

While United struggle to fire on all cylinders, Drogba said Chelsea have a great chance to put some early distance between themselves and their biggest rivals.

"It’s really important for us to beat United at home," Drogba said. "The match against Atletico was far from a good performance — I think we were thinking about Sunday’s game."

United will be without Ferdinand against Chelsea while Gary Neville is suspended but Vidic and Ryan Giggs, both of whom missed the CSKA game are likely to return.

Fast-improving Arsenal can creep above United today if they win at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Fourth-placed Manchester City take on Burnley hoping to end a sequence of four consecutive league draws while Liverpool, who conceded a late equaliser in their disappointing 1-1 Champions League draw at Olympique Lyon, try to revive their flagging season at home to Birmingham City on Monday.

In Italy, tensions are rising at AS Roma and city rivals Lazio after difficult starts to the season, which are about to become even tougher with weekend matches against Inter and AC Milan.

Roma, who changed coach just two games in when Claudio Ranieri replaced Luciano Spalletti, have lurched from one mini-crisis to another with rumours again growing that the owner will be forced into selling the club.

President Rosella Sensi has said she will not quit despite supporter unrest and pressure from banks, but with little money available for January reinforcements the chances of a sale have increased after two failed takeover bids in two years.

On the field, the injury problems of captain Francesco Totti have hampered their progress and tomorrow’s game at leaders Inter (10:45pm) will remind Roma fans just how far they have fallen.

Two seasons ago they almost snatched the title from Inter on the final day but last term they were sixth and are now 14th.

"Roma will improve, we will cancel out the boos of the supporters," midfielder Daniele De Rossi told reporters.

The form of Inter makes the trip from the capital to Italy’s second city even trickier than usual.

Jose Mourinho’s side are seven points clear already and will be even more pumped up after Wednesday’s 2-1 comeback win over Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League.

Back in Rome, 15th-placed Lazio host resurgent Milan at 5pm tomorrow with boss Davide Ballardini clinging to his job.

"We are not in a crisis. We are only paying the price for playing three times a week," Ballardini said.

While Lazio — like Roma — have been trundling along in the Europa League, Serie A has been a lot worse.

Last Sunday’s 1-1 draw at bottom side Siena did not help the former Palermo coach’s cause, and neither has the decision to freeze out striker Goran Pandev and midfielder Cristian Ledesma.

Despite their talents, they have not featured since asking for close-season transfers and legal moves are now underway with Pandev hoping to escape in January. Inter is a possibility with Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o heading to the African Cup of Nations.

Today, joint-second Juventus have only David Trezeguet available upfront at lowly Atalanta (1945) with Amauri suspended and Vincenzo Iaquinta and Alessandro Del Piero still injured.

In Japan, Pohang Steelers and Al Ittihad will contest a classic East against West showdown in the Asian Champions League final in Tokyo today, with a berth at next month’s lucrative Fifa World Club Cup awaiting the winner.

Adding to the intrigue is the fact that this year’s final will be the first winner-takes-all decider after the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) abandoned their traditional home-and-away format for a single, sudden-death match.

The competition, expanded to 32 teams this season with a increased purse of $1.5 million for the winner, will reach its climax on Saturday with either South Korea’s Pohang or their Saudi opponents crowned continental champions for a third time.

Al Ittihad won back-to-back titles from 2004 while the Steelers lifted the former Asian Club Championship twice in the late 1990s.

Both clubs have been in great attacking form this season and go into Saturday’s final at full strength, with no players unavailable through injury or suspension.

Al Ittihad scored 29 goals and conceded nine in their 11 matches, including a 7-0 thrashing of eventual semi-finalists Umm Salal in the group stage before crushing Pakhtakor Tashkent 4-0 in the quarter-finals and Nagoya Grampus 6-2 in the semis.

Tunisian striker Amine Chermiti has scored in each of three games since arriving on loan from Bundesliga club Hertha Berlin in August while Moroccan striker Hicham Aboucherouane is the side’s top scorer in the competition with five goals.

— Reuters