It may be early days in the English Premiership season. But Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has admitted that his side face an uphill task in retaining their title.

United have picked up only two points from three matches.

They are 16th in the table, five points behind title rivals Chelsea.

Manchester City, who beat United 1-0 on Sunday, lead the table with nine points.

It is United's worst start to a season in 15 years.

But Ferguson is not about to start making wholesale changes because a few results have gone against his team.

He told teamtalk.com: 'At this moment, we have to rely on our experience, and make sure we do not get carried away with a knee-jerk reaction to it all.'

City are unlikely to remain at the Premiership summit for too long. But Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal have all started the season brightly, leaving United playing an unwanted game of catch-up.

Admitted Ferguson: 'We have given ourselves an uphill fight, there is no doubt about that.

'We know the position we have put ourselves in.

'Over the years, we have always been able to overcome these things. We will have to do so again.

'But this is a league where if you make mistakes like this one, it punishes you.

'We have to get a win under our belts. We have Tottenham on Sunday, and that has become a very important game for us.'

The manager knows his forwards have to start firing if they want to collect three points against Spurs.

United were without Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo on Sunday, and it will be the same for the Spurs game.

Rooney is injured, while Ronaldo is suspended.

Ferguson was left to rue the missed opportunities against City, in a match which the Red Devils dominated.

He told Sky Sports: 'We had an awful lot of chances and played some fantastic football at times, but it just wasn't our day.

'The opportunities and possession we've had, particularly in the last third of the field, were just wasted. That's the nuts and bolts of it.

'I don't think you can even say City were lucky, because we had so many opportunities to win it ourselves.

'So, it is our own fault. We haven't won it because of our own disappointments in the last third of the field.

'I'm disappointed with the result, there's no question about that.

'But I can't fault the performance. It was outstanding, we completely dominated the football match.'