A crucial week of waiting

People are aware of the desire in our squad and we showed it yesterday in our 3-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.

It was a tense game in the first half because there was so much riding on it for both teams. We probably shaded the first half and had a few chances, notably when Ledley King made a fantastic block midway through.

We knew at half-time we had to up the tempo, and we did that at times. We got the breakthrough goal after a great bit of skill from Dimitar Berbatov led to Patrice Evra being fouled by Benoît Assou-Ekotto inside the penalty area. After Ryan Giggs scored the penalty we thought we could take the game, but they got a goal back quickly from a set-piece, which was disappointing because we have been good at defending set-pieces this season.

Then it became really tense in the stadium because we knew the final 10 minutes was huge in terms of keeping our title hopes alive. I think if we had drawn yesterday it would have given Chelsea a huge boost for their game against Stoke city today.

We can't afford to make any mistakes as the chasing team so Nani's goal was really important. For him to show such composure one-on-one at such a crucial stage was fantastic. Then Giggs's second penalty clinched a vital win for us.

Losing Wayne Rooney before the match was a big blow and people are quick to point out that we do miss him when he's not there, but yesterday Berbabtov played very well. We will need all our players to be match winners over the next two games. Chelsea may win all their remaining games, but the most disappointing thing would be if they make a mistake and we don't capitalise.

I also didn't play yesterday because I picked up a little calf injury at the end of last week which kept me out. Hopefully I will be able to train by the middle or end of this week and be available for Sunderland next Sunday, although with the team winning it can be difficult to get back in if you miss a game.

We wanted to put a little bit of pressure on Chelsea for their game against today. We expect them to win but you just never know with the way this season has gone. And obviously it keeps us in it for next weekend when we both have difficult away games; ourselves at Sunderland and Chelsea at Liverpool.

We've had our ups and downs in the Premier League this year but at times we have shown great spirit to come back in games and fight to the end. Certainly we have shown that in the last two games against Manchester City and Spurs. They were very difficult matches and we had difficult times in both those games, yet we came through and we just hope it will pay off.

We have an incredibly difficult game next Sunday because Sunderland have hit form at just the right time. Everyone has been talking about it coming down to next Sunday but, and I know it is a football cliché, we can only concentrate on our own job. Although we're hoping Chelsea slip up, unless we win our games it doesn't matter.

Chelsea play twice now before we play again, so when we walk onto the pitch against Sunderland we will know where we are in terms of the title race. On the last day of the season, ourselves and Chelsea have home games you would expect both teams to win. I know anything can happen, but realistically if Chelsea win their next two matches it will give them great confidence, so we are thinking if anything is going to happen in our favour, it will have to happen in Chelsea's next two games. From our point of view, we will know when we go onto the pitch at 4 p.m. next Sunday whether we have a realistic chance or not.

It's not usual for us to be talking like this at this stage of the season, but we're hoping that at some point Chelsea might feel the pressure. That's not me suggesting that they will, but at this stage of the season strange things can happen. Chelsea have good experience in their squad and we can't affect their next two games. We did our job yesterday and now we have to sit back and wait, prepare for Sunderland and if anything happens in Chelsea's next two games, hopefully we can play a fantastic match against Sunderland and capitalise on it.

An eye on Europe

Inter Milan's 3-1 Champions League semi-final victory over Barcelona was a surprise.

But Jose Mourinho is a very shrewd coach who knows Barcelona very well because he has played them many times over the last few years in the Champions League. He will have prepared his team thoroughly.

Barcelona had to make the long journey by coach because of the ash cloud disruption which may have potentially affected their preparation, although I'm not sure they would point to that as an excuse. There is no doubt travelling long distances affects everybody, in any walk of life. It can leave you feeling a little off-peak and lethargic, and maybe it had a small effect on the game, but I don't think you could use it as an excuse as a professional.

It just seemed to me that Inter Milan were very aggressive all over the pitch in their approach to both defending and attacking. It makes for an incredible second leg on Wednesday.

Bayern Munich gave a typical performance; they got the goal and beat Lyon 1-0 and I think they will get an away goal on Tuesday to go through. I didn't think I would be writing this but I think it could be a Bayern Munich vs Inter Milan final, although you cannot rule out Barcelona.

Finally I think it is an incredible achievement by Fulham to be in the Europa League semi-finals and to draw the away leg 0-0 in Hamburg. In the last round they beat Wolfsburg, who we played in the Champions League and we know are a very good side.

No one enjoys going to Craven Cottage to play Fulham; they have beaten us there a few times in the last few years. There is no doubt they could get to the final.

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