Owen Hargreaves, the Manchester United midfielder, believes it is now a “three-horse race” to win the Barclays Premier League title.

Liverpool, traditionally one of the ’big four’, dropped more points last night as they drew 2-2 with Aston Villa at Anfield and are now fifth in the table - 14 points behind Hargreaves’ United side.

The England international now believes Rafael Benitez’s side are out of contention.

“That is a massive gap for them to close,” he said. “So it looks to me as though it’s going to be a three-horse race between United, Arsenal and Chelsea.

“I can’t see beyond the current top three as title winners and hopefully in May we’ll still be on top and looking down on everyone else. The boss keeps telling me this is where titles are won. We’ve got some big goals this season and we’re going to need everyone out there to help.”

The 27-year-old also admitted to being impressed by Chelsea’s tenacity as they continue to keep touch with the top two despite the impact of Jose Mourinho’s departure earlier this term.

“Chelsea have done really well to hang in during a tough period when they have changed their manager - and they are still contenders,” he added.