Man U out to protect Premier League lead at Fulham

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SEOUL: A woman walks past a logo of Samsung Electronics outside its headquarters in Seoul Tuesday. — AFP Photo

LONDON, Mar 11 (AP): Boosted by an impressive 4-0 Champions League triumph over AC Milan, Manchester United now has to concentrate on staying on top of the Premier League.
After Wayne Rooney took his goals tally for the season to 30 with two more against the Italian club, United has a home game against a Fulham side which has won only one league game in 14 away from home and should be confident of staying two points ahead of Chelsea and Arsenal in the title race.
The down side for manager Alex Ferguson and his team is that both rivals have comparatively easy games too. On Saturday, Chelsea hosts West Ham and Arsenal visits next-to-last Hull.
The biggest danger to United could be the fitness of Rooney, who has been hampered by a nagging knee injury which kept him out of last weekend's 1-0 victory at Wolves.
"His performance was a continuation of his form in the last few months, just sensational and unbelievable," Ferguson said. "He's still carrying a bit of an injury, nothing serious."
Former United star David Beckham, on loan to Milan from the Los Angeles Galaxy and Rooney's teammate in the England squad, was also impressed by the striker, who scored twice in the 3-2 first leg victory in Milan.
With Michael Owen sidelined for the rest of the season, Ferguson has fewer chances to rest Rooney. With Wednesday's game against Milan virtually won, he took Rooney off and replaced him with Dimitar Berbatov.
Longtime leader Chelsea slipped to second only because it was involved in FA Cup action last weekend. But striker Didier Drogba, who played a big part in the club winning back-to-back titles in 2005 and 06, is cautious about predicting another triumph.
Like United, Arsenal comes off a big victory in Europe, a 5-0 crushing of FC Porto as it also captured a spot in the quarterfinal of the Champions League.
After watching Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner squander easy chances in last weekend's 3-1 victory over Burnley, the Arsenal fans were relieved to see him hit three goals against Porto in their team's all-round impressive performance which should also build confidence for the Premier League campaign.
Although too far behind to be realistically in the title race, the four teams behind have their own battle to capture fourth spot, which means a shot at next season's Champions League.