Chelsea retain a 12-point advantage over United with eight games left to play -- one more than Ferguson's men.

But the champions' unstoppable aura has been dented by a run in which they have dropped ten points in their last eight games, culminating in Sunday's stormy 1-0 defeat at Fulham.

Chelsea will not want their current advantage to be reduced any further, particularly as they must face United in the penultimate match of the season.

"I have said we want to be in a position to take advantage if Chelsea start to slip," Ferguson said.

"There are signs Chelsea have hit the wall. Only time will tell how long it will last."

Ferguson's number two, Carlos Queiroz, claimed there has been a sea-change in the way other teams approach their matches with Chelsea since Fulham and Middlesbrough (last month) emulated United by beating Jose Mourinho's men in the league.

"We did not have to wait for Chelsea to play Barcelona (in the Champions League defeat) to realise they are not invincible," said the Portuguese coach. "We have already beaten them.

"But over the last four or five games it seems that other teams are beginning to think they can do something against them too.

"Teams are finding a way of creating problems for them."

Despite the optimism emanating from the managerial team at United, Irish defender John O'Shea admitted he would happily swap places with Chelsea right now, even if that means being a little unloved.

"It's fair to say that Chelsea have taken our place as the most hated team in England," said O'Shea.

"When they had their little blip a few weeks back, people were jumping on it and seemed pleased that they were having a few problems. That's the way it was with us for a long time and we want to get back to that."