Getting ready to strike

We go to Chelsea today for the top of the table match and these 'big four' clashes are always important. If Chelsea win they will go five points clear at the top so we obviously wouldn't want that to happen.

The league isn't won in November, but we're all jostling for position in the pack and we want to stay as tight to our rivals as we can going into Christmas so that we're in a good position in January and February when the race starts to hot up. At this moment in time, it's not necessarily about hitting top form or running away with the league - it's about getting in the best position to strike.

Some people are saying that Chelsea are our main rivals for the title but I think Arsenal and Liverpool are still in contention. There are only a few points in it, and Arsenal could go level with us if they win their game in hand. It is too early to call it a two-horse race; there is more quality in the league than that.

That said, Chelsea have certainly looked solid. Their manager Carlo Ancelotti is playing his strongest team every week and they have definitely got a bit of a rhythm together. I've been impressed by Chelsea for the past few seasons, they have been our main challenger for the past four or five years.

They are a very powerful team with good strength and excellent centre forwards in Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka, who are a real handful. Then they have the threat from midfield with Michael Ballack and Frank Lampard, who are two really good goal-scoring midfielders with a physical presence.

Lampard is a real danger; he's always sniffing around and knows where the ball will land. He is someone we have to pay real attention to because he scores goals at important moments.

Ancelotti has changed Chelsea's system. For many years they played 4-3-3, they've now gone to a 4-4-2 with a diamond. This is certainly something our management team and coaches will be considering before the game.

It is never an open game when we play Chelsea. I would imagine it will be tight; both teams will not want to give anything away. It's always been a difficult place for us to go, even before they were challenging. I anticipate both teams will respect each other, and obviously both teams will want to win, but it will be nowhere near as open as our 3-3 draw with CSKA Moscow in the Champion's League last Tuesday.

Causing ourselves problems

We caused ourselves problems by conceding soft goals in the first half against CSKA. Then the manager gave us instructions at half time not to concede any more goals and we lost one straight away in the second half. Every time we attacked we looked dangerous, but when you lose three goals at home it makes it very difficult and we were happy with the draw in the end. When you're losing 3-1 with five minutes to go you'll take anything.

We were all frustrated at conceding three goals at Old Trafford, not just the manager. But to come back from two goals down with five minutes to go shows good character and the never-say-die spirit that we know we've got.

I was frustrated a bit in the first half but I enjoyed it in the second half when the ball came over to the right-hand side a lot more. Antonio Valencia and I seemed to have a lot of joy getting down that side. He was working the left back very well and I was getting into the spaces.

In the last 20 minutes in particular it started opening up and that can be the case at Old Trafford - you can wear teams out for 70 minutes and then they find it very difficult in the last 20. If it had gone on another five minutes I think we probably would have scored another goal to be honest.

The referee's decision to deny Darren Fletcher a penalty and book him for diving was terrible. Anyone who knows the character of Fletcher would know that he never dives.

It was a definite penalty but sometimes you get them and sometimes you don't.

The manager suggested afterwards that we should be able to appeal yellow cards and I agree when a card is given for something so blatantly wrong. But I suppose there would be so many appeals coming in that they would have to employ a lot more people across Europe to deal with every single situation.

Igor Akinfeev, the CSKA goalkeeper, made some good saves and he had an excellent kick on him. There have been rumours linking him with a move to our club, but I'm not aware of any interest in him from us.

The most important thing is that we have qualified. I don't agree that it will be difficult for the players and fans to motivate themselves for the last two group games. We always get good crowds at Old Trafford, so we'll get near 70,000. These games are important because we want to win the group and also because we can use our squad in the busy month of December.

Liverpool, Barcelona and Bayern Munich are really struggling to qualify, but it does not surprise me because the quality of the opposition is so good now throughout Europe. If you look at the Russian teams, the eastern European teams, they have excellent quality. The Turkish and Greek teams spend a lot on players.

Then there are the Dutch, English, Spanish, Italian, German, French and Portuguese teams who are always strong. If you're not at your best you could come unstuck.

Send your questions to Gary Neville to sunday@timesofmalta.com.