SIR Alex Ferguson yesterday insisted Manchester United are back in the driving seat to ruin Chelsea's title dreams despite last weekend's bitter defeat to their rivals.

Ferguson also brushed aside Chelsea boss Avram Grant's criticism of Alan Curbishley after the West Ham manager said it would be an injustice if United were not crowned champions.

The United manager insisted West Ham had proved tough opponents in the past - they have actually beaten Ferguson's side on the last three occasions - and would be again at Old Trafford today.

Ferguson said: I don't know why he's suggesting there's going to be anything untoward.

They should know better than anyone, Chelsea, about these situations.

But we must be in the driving seat, if we both win two games we have the better goal difference.

Hopefully we can win the match tomorrow which would go a long way to winning the league.

Newcastle is not an easy place to go now for Chelsea, they are on the march.

The important thing for us is concentrating on tomorrow's game. If both of us win both our games I will be very happy.'' Ferguson feels the victory over Barcelona on Tuesday night to set up a Champions League final in Moscow against Chelsea, who overcame Liverpool 24 hours later, could prove the most important point of the season.

We were all disappointed to lose to Chelsea last Saturday, it doesn't matter how you have lost,'' said the United manager.

I think the most important thing is our result on Tuesday night, it gave us the lift at the right time.

Now we can pick our strongest team for the next two games and have the squad to change it if we want to and hopefully we can get over the line.'' Wayne Rooney could be on the bench against West Ham but defender Nemanja Vidic is definitely out.

Patrice Evra is available despite being carried off on Tuesday after being kicked in the face.