John Terry thinks Alex Ferguson is concerned that Man United lack Chelsea's ability to improve after peaking last season.

United crept past the Blues in the Barclays Premier League title race and needed penalties to dispatch their domestic rivals in their titanic Champions League Final showdown.

And Terry believes Ferguson's recent spate of mind games has been driven by Chelsea's ability to keep pace to the finishing line last season saying: "I think Sir Alex realises we weren't too far away from United when they were at the very top of their game."

He added: "I don't think United have another level to go to. They had a lot of players in their team who have been at the peak of their form for the last two years.

"Rio Ferdinand has been awesome for the last two years and Cristiano Ronaldo was unbelievable - I don't think you'll see that again.

"Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, Ryan Giggs - they have all been fantastic. With the injuries we've had, as players we can all raise the bar a little bit.

"With it being that close in the Premier League and Champions League, they know we'll give them a big run for their money.

"I think we can close the gap because Man Utd were at the very top of their game last season.

"I'm taking nothing away from them because they've been unbelievable over the past two years.

"But we've been very close to them and we had injuries and a change of manager."