Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson refuses to accept the Premiership title is already wrapped up.

Most pundits believe the championship will be heading back to Old Trafford this season, with bookmakers Paddy Power so certain they have already paid out on a United domestic treble.

The move has been dismissed as 'a gimmick' by United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, whose side entertain Blackburn on Saturday knowing victory will take them eight points clear of second-placed Liverpool.

And he recalls exactly the same plaudits being showered on his team 11 years ago, when they opened up a 12-point lead on Arsenal only to suffer a dismal slump in March when they managed only one draw in a three-game run that included a home defeat by their chief rivals.

That sequence put United on the back foot and they never recovered the initiative as the Gunners strode to their first title triumph under Arsene Wenger.

"People were saying it was a foregone conclusion in 1998," recalled Ferguson.

"But when we got to the beginning of March, Ryan Giggs and Gary Pallister got injured, Peter Schmeichel was carrying one and Paul Scholes had to play with a broken toe.

"In attack, Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham had to play all the time during a certain period because Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was injured.

"It told on the run-in because we couldn't freshen the team up."