Manchester: Sir Alex Ferguson claims the Premier League title is all over after watching his Manchester United side go six points clear of nearest rivals Chelsea after defeating the Blues 2-1.
United moved to within one point from overtaking Liverpool's haul of 18 league titles after goals from Javier Hernandez and Nemanja Vidic secured the victory and they will be confirmed champions if they avoid defeat at Blackburn next week.
And Ferguson believes his team will not mess up over the final two fixtures, although he is not taking either of his last two opponents lightly.
"Knowing the players, they won’t muck it up, they’ll get the point there’s no doubt about that," he told reporters after the match.
"We’ve got to be doing some work on Barcelona, of course, I think all the tactical things during the week will be on that now in particular.
"We’ve still got to get that point at Blackburn and Blackburn are fighting relegation and so are Blackpool.
"We’ve got to give them 100 per cent respect, they deserve that, because they are two great football clubs, local neighbours. You don’t want to see them go down, to be honest with you, but we have to do our job and if we get the point I’ll be delighted.
"It’s fantastic to be the most successful club in the country, in terms of championship victories and the minute we won the first one in 1992 and the door opened for us and in fairness to [Liverpool], they’ve been involved in the first two throughout all that period is an incredible achievement.
"For the last 17 years, 18 years, it’s been Arsenal and Chelsea and we have to look at them always as the main challengers to us. For the last few years it’s been Chelsea. Arsenal made a great attempt this year, they beat us last week to give them a slight sliver of hope, but losing today [at Stoke] has finalised it for them."
United's victory kept up their incredible home record, which has seen them win 17 and only draw once - against West Brom - all season.
Against champions Chelsea, Ferguson felt that his side had been the better team on the day and deserved the three points.
He added: “We do it all the time, taking it right to the very wire. We could have scored about six in the second half, we had a lot chances, but you expect a tough game and we got a tough game.
"I thought we were brilliant [in the first half], we got a great start, a fantastic start, we did really well. Petr Cech has made two fantastic saves.
"It was a good team performance. When we gave the ball away for their goal, understandably we were a little bit nervy about the thing, but the fans helped us that last part, they helped us a lot.
"They were magnificent, particularly in that last 10-15 minutes when we needed them. They were fantastic.
"We kept making chances – Wayne Rooney could have scored six today. It was one of these days in that respect, but credit to the players, they’ve deserved it and hopefully we can get that one point now."
Hernandez's goal came after only 36 seconds for the Premier League leaders and Ferguson paid tribute to his, and veteran Ryan Giggs', performances.
On Giggs he said: “Absolutely marvellous. I’ve said it before, I’ll keep saying it and hopefully I’ll be saying it next year too.”
And for Hernandez he added that the Mexican striker had gone past all his expectations for his first season at Old Trafford.
He stated: “Absolutely, no doubt that. He’s a real threat, the boy’s such a keen lad to learn the game, he’s very perceptive to information and he’s deserved everything he’s got this season."
With the title now in sight, Ferguson reflected on his remarkable tenure at United: “I’d have been quite happy to have stayed four or five years at the time, it took time to get the foundation of the club right.
"But once we got that first title the door just opened and we improved and improved and improved."
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