First it was the turn of Sir Alex Ferguson to question Liverpool’s title credentials. Now Michael Carrick, the Manchester United midfield player, has continued the mind games by claiming that Rafael Benítez’s team and Chelsea will be kicking themselves for not being farther ahead of the Barclays Premier League champions at this stage of the season.

United will move to within a point of Chelsea if they beat Luiz Felipe Scolari’s team at Old Trafford on Sunday, even though they still have two games in hand on the West London club and Liverpool, the league leaders, whom they trail by seven points.

Carrick is eager for United to close the gap on Chelsea this weekend, but the England midfield player believes that their opponents have missed a trick by failing to take greater advantage of United’s difficult fixture list during the first half of the season and expects the champions to build up a head of steam going into the final straight. United have already played nine of the ten teams that finished directly below them last season away from home this campaign.

“If I was in their shoes [Liverpool and Chelsea], I’d want to be as far ahead as I possibly could be,” Carrick said. “At this stage of the season, we could have been a lot farther behind than we are so we’re very positive at the moment.

“It’s strange how the season’s gone, but it’s not too bad for us. With the start we’ve had and the away games we’ve had, and playing away after Champions League fixtures, we’ve had to overcome a fair bit. So to be in the position we are in is not such a bad thing.”

Ferguson, who earlier this week expressed doubts whether Liverpool would be able to handle the pressure of a title chase, having last won the league in 1990, is surprised that United’s second league game against Chelsea this season has come so early but he is desperate to regain some momentum after the 1-0 defeat away to Derby County in the first leg of their Carling Cup semi-final on Wednesday.

Having watched his team score only four goals in their past six league matches as well, Ferguson will also hope that his prediction that an opponent is going “to suffer” some time soon will ring true on Sunday. “It’s a big game,” the United manager said. “It’s unusual to have it in January; it’s usually towards the end of the season. It’s been later on — in the last two or three games — for the last two seasons. It doesn’t matter when you play Chelsea, though, it’s always going to be a massive game.”

United have signed Ritchie de Laet, 20, a Belgian defender, from Stoke City on a three-year, performancerelated deal. De Laet did play for Stoke, whom he joined in July 2007 from Royal Antwerp, a feeder club of United, but spent a month on loan at Wrexham this season.