Carrick Breaks His Newcastle Duck

Carrick tried it with West Ham, Spurs and last season, United but never managed to get a win at St. James' Park until Saturday.

And he had a big influence on the game: impressive passing, crowned with a delightful assist marked him out as one of the top performers of the 90 minutes. He's now setting his sights on a second Premiership winners' medal.

'Will last season's title win help us this time? I'll tell you come mid-May I suppose but experience is obviously vital,' he said.

'We've got a lot of lads in the dressing room who have been through itonce and some have been through it more than once. That's a lot of experience to draw on and help out the younger boys.

'Last season was obviously a great season and this one has been a little bit of a different scenario in that we're behind at this stage.

'We're finishing strongly and if we keep on playing well there will be further cause to celebrate at the end of the season although I'm sure there'll be lots of ups and downs.'

Didn't produce classic quotes this time, did he? Well, no. And he went on to make some tactical points but he won't be in danger as Fergie is unlikely to regard these as secrets...

'We have pace and when we attack at speed we can cause any team problems. It's a great final score for us. It's a good day for us and we've closed the gap. We knew beforehand it was a big three points for us. With Arsenal just getting a point it's a great day.

'When we defend well it gives us a good platform. We've been playing with great style recently, and long may that continue.'