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LONDON - MANCHESTER United are facing a defensive crisis which could jeopardise their Premier League and Champions League hopes.
Their centre-back Rio Ferdinand left Middlesbrough on Sunday wearing a protective cast on his left foot, after the 2-2 draw in their English Premier League match.
United are already without Nemanja Vidic for tomorrow's second leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Roma.
Now they look to be without Ferdinand after the defender limped off with 20 minutes to go.
Manager Alex Ferguson said: 'Hopefully it's not serious with Rio but he was limping for too long.
'The danger was to keep carrying on with him.''
Ferdinand will have a scan on his injured foot, but it seems certain the 29-year-old will miss the Roma game, reported The Mirror.
He is also a major doubt for the Premier League visit of Arsenal to Old Trafford on Sunday.
The injury to Ferdinand compounded a miserable day for United, who saw their lead over Chelsea cut to three points and had to rely on a Wayne Rooney equaliser with 16 minutes to go at the Riverside Stadium.
Now, their match against Arsenal and the visit to Stamford Bridge on April 26 have assumed the feel of potential title-deciders.
And it was telling that Ferguson later displayed a rare touch of insecurity, saying: 'Our goal difference is good.''
His side were not expected to need to rely on goal difference to recapture the championship, but the injury that has put Vidic out for around three weeks is suddenly emphasising just how important the Serbian centre-half is to their cause.
Ferguson described United's defending without him as 'haphazard''.
In his absence, Middlesbrough's attack frequently ran Ferdinand, Wes Brown, John O'Shea and Patrice Evra ragged.
And Ferdinand's second-half injury saw Ferguson forced to send the inexperienced Gerard Pique on instead.
But Ferguson insisted United's title setback will only inspire his players to keep going to the last minute of the campaign.
'The nature of the club is that we never give in, and that's a great quality to have at this time of year,' he said.
'It sends out a signal to everyone that we will never give in. We will stretch ourselves in every game as long as we can.''
It looks like the champions are going to be stretched all the way to the title.
Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate summed up the Premier League title race perfectly on Sunday.
'I'm not bothered who wins,'' he said. 'United and Arsenal are better to watch but Chelsea have a resilience.''
Southgate was spot on: Chelsea are unbeaten in the League since they lost at Arsenal back in December.
And their cause was given a boost by the easy 2-0 win over Manchester City on Saturday.
For Blues midfielder Jon Obi Mikel, the scenario is a simple one.
Win their next two games - Wigan at home and Everton away - and then go on to beat United and they will be champions.
He said: 'We know we can go all the way and they will drop more points.
'All we have to do is keep winning our games and then towards the end, we play Manchester United.
'I think that's going to be the deciding game. It's just the two of us going head-to-head now.''
Coach Avram Grant believes United are feeling the pressure.
'I think if you ask Alex and his players, we have put them under pressure all the last three months because we have won almost every game,'' he said. 'I think we have won close to 80 per cent of our games which is the record of champions.
'I don't think they will win it before the end of the season, but we need to do our job.''
Arsenal are six points behind United, after drawing five of their last seven League games, including their 1-1 clash with Liverpool on Saturday.
But manager Arsene Wenger has still not given up hope.
He believes Arsenal would still be top of the League if they had not suffered a glut of injuries.
'I could have spent in the January transfer window but I did not know then that Eduardo, Robin van Persie and Tomas Rosicky would all be out at the same time,'' he told The Sun.
'The turning point was losing Eduardo when we were already without van Persie and Rosicky.
'If we'd had everybody available we would still have been top of the table.''
He believes the match with United on Sunday is the key to their chances.
Arsenal had to win to stay in touch.
'In my brain it is not over, because it is not over mathematically,'' he said before last Saturday's match.
'It depends on the results of the other teams. We would need at least five wins and a draw.'
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