Fergie: Chelsea face tough fight

Alex Ferguson today warned Chelsea that they face a five-way fight for their title next season.

The Manchester United manager, whose side will form a guard of honour to applaud Jose Mourinho's champions on to the Old Trafford pitch tonight, said: "Chelsea have deserved their title. Jose has come in and built a very powerful team. But next season is already shaping up to be a very hard league.

"Liverpool will improve, as will Tottenham and then you have Arsenal, Chelsea and ourselves. Arsenal's squad doesn't look like it needs a lot so it could be quite exciting and I expect it to be far more competitive. It is not easy to defend your title."

Ferguson, whose side are 17 points behind Chelsea, added: "There is nothing between our sides and they know fine well we will be one of their main challengers next season. Can we do them next season? I'm sure we can, absolutely. I think Chelsea will expect us to start better and we should be better off in terms of personnel.

"But Chelsea have raised the bar. We used to say you couldn't afford more than six defeats to win the league but with Chelsea having lost just once, three is the maximum number now."

John Terry, who will not play again this season because of his toe injury, insists Chelsea can avoid defeat in the next campaign. He said: "The bar has been raised by what we have done this year and we need to clear it.

"Our aim next season has to be to go through the season without losing in the league at all. We've only lost once so far, at Manchester City, and that hurt. But Arsenal showed last season that it can be done. They did it, so why can't we?"