London - Wayne Rooney believes Manchester United can hunt down rivals City and Chelsea at the top of the Barclays Premier League.
Rooney turned in a man-of-the-match performance from central midfield at Old Trafford yesterday as United strolled past Newcastle 3-1.
The United skipper scored two and made one from his new position and said: ‘We’ve chased leads down before but we’ve lost leads as well, and a big number of points before, so anything can happen - especially over the next week or two with all the games.
‘There’s a long way to go, we know that. If we can come out of these games with the right results we’ll be in a good position.’
United trail second-placed City by seven points and Chelsea by 10. Rooney added: ‘It’s a busy period for us over Christmas and we were able to start that out with a win.
‘We were disappointed at the end to concede the goal but we’ve got to be pleased with the points.’
Rooney received glowing praise from former team-mate and Old Trafford midfield legend Paul Scholes, who said on TV last night he could have a future in central midfield.
‘He is definitely capable of playing there,’ said Scholes.
United manager Louis van Gaal agreed, saying: ‘He has the lung capacity to play there and he scores goals.
‘In the last game he was too defensive. I told him to be more attacking. He can be a centre forward too but at the moment it’s best for the team he plays in midfield.
‘I was extremely pleased with the team today. We are making progress every game. We dominated the game for 90 minutes. Newcastle were defensive but we scored fantastic goals and created chances.’
Van Gaal criticised the Premier League programming that sees United play again, against Tottenham, on Sunday.
‘In Uefa and Fifa it is forbidden to play within 48 hours but in England it seems to be OK,’ he said.
United will be without Marouane Fellaini and Adnan Januzaj at Tottenham as both are unwell. It also seems unlikely that winger Angel di Maria will be fit after suffering a pelvis injury in training on Christmas Eve.
‘He was injured in a warm up,’ said Van Gaal.
‘It is not a heavy injury, but you don’t take risks.
‘It is to do with the way his pelvis attaches to his leg.’
Newcastle could have had an early penalty yesterday but were eventually beaten by two Rooney goals in the first half and a header from Robin van Persie early in the second half. Substitute Papa Cisse grabbed an 85th-minute consolation penalty.
Daily Mail