Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has said that a six-day period later this month will be key to his team's chances of winning back the Premier League title.
Manchester United hosts rivals Arsenal at Old Trafford on Monday week and then travel to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea on December 19.
Ferguson has earmarked the back-to-back fixtures as vital to their hopes of winning the trophy back from Chelsea.
"You always want to win those games because I think they're really significant. We've managed to claw ourselves into a position two points ahead of Chelsea. So the game at Stamford Bridge and Arsenal's trip to Manchester will certainly be very important," The Sun quoted Ferguson, as saying.
United lost the crown to Chelsea on the final day of last season and Ferguson reckons the two matches against the London outfit decided it.
"We saw that last season. Some big decisions didn't go our way in the two matches against Chelsea and they ended up costing us important points," he said.
United start their December programme at Blackpool tomorrow and also face Sunderland, West Brom, Birmingham and Stoke over the Christmas period.
Ferguson admitted that he is happy enough with the run of matches and is pleased their festive travelling has been kept to a minimum.
"Of course, how you do at Christmas depends on who you've got to play. And more importantly who you have to play in away games. Over the years we always seemed to have had games in the North East but this year it's a bit more local," he said.
