April is the key to tittle race

Gary Neville believes April could be as big a month for Manchester United as he saw during his 20 years at the club.

United are eyeing a repeat of their historic 1999 treble and will be involved in some high-voltage encounters this month.

They'll face Chelsea over two legs in the Champions League quarter-finals and Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final while trying to maintain their five-point lead over Arsenal in the Premier League title-race.

Neville, who retired earlier this season after a stellar career believes manager Sir Alex Ferguson will be primarily concerned with keeping his players fit.

In comments quoted on the club's official website, he said: "I think it's just simple things, there's no complication. Keep the players fit, make sure they're fresh and not over-trained, make sure they're prepared.

"You really have got games now every weekend and midweek - it's probably as big a month as I've seen in my 20 years here when you look at the matches coming up in the next four or five weeks and the scale of them.

"From that perspective, it's just about making sure the preparations are the same and keeping the players fit and you don't get sending offs. So discipline is important - they're the ones out of your control a little bit as the manager needs his full squad at this time of the season."

The injury-hit United defence was dealt a further blow during their last Premier League encounter when Jonny Evans was shown red for a reckless tackle on Bolton midfielder Stuart Holden.

With Rio Ferdinand still nursing a niggle and doubts over the fitness of captain Nemanja Vidic, there is an air of vulnerability to the United backline. Luckily for them though, challengers Arsenal have problems of their own as well.

However, Neville still thinks they, along with Chelsea are the biggest obstacles to United's title charge. The Red Devils play West Ham at Upton Park while Arsenal host Blackburn at the Emirates this weekend.

"I think it probably is Chelsea and Arsenal ," he said.

"Arsenal had a couple of bad results when they could've put some pressure on us, particularly in the week we lost to Chelsea and Liverpool. But it is there for us and we've got so close. It is the run-in.

"I think Saturday's a big one to be honest with you, coming back from the internationals and playing away to West Ham with a lunchtime kick-off. That's got a danger to it. That's good in some ways though because the lads have been there before.

'It's really, really important, they'll know it's a danger game. We've seen those times and how difficult those games are. I think we'll be ready for it."

However, Neville cautioned against entertaining thoughts of a treble just yet.

"You never know with the Treble," he explained. "If you get past the FA Cup final on the Saturday, you think it's here now but you never think to win a treble.

"It doesn't enter your thinking as a player. With all the matches ahead of us, you haven't got time to think about [what might happen] in six weeks' time.

"I would love to see us win the league as that's our bread and butter but the cups are always a bonus and the Champions League is massive and, when the games come around, you always want to win them. But let's just win that championship first."