The move has been dismissed as 'a gimmick' by United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, whose side entertain Blackburn on Saturday knowing victory will take them eight points clear of second-placed Liverpool.

And he recalls exactly the same plaudits being showered on his team 11 years ago, when they opened up a 12-point lead on Arsenal only to suffer a dismal slump in March when they managed only one draw in a three-game run that included a home defeat by their chief rivals.

That sequence put United on the back foot and they never recovered the initiative as the Gunners strode to their first title triumph under Arsene Wenger.

"People were saying it was a foregone conclusion in 1998," recalled Ferguson.

"But when we got to the beginning of March, Ryan Giggs and Gary Pallister got injured, Peter Schmeichel was carrying one and Paul Scholes had to play with a broken toe.

"In attack, Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham had to play all the time during a certain period because Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was injured.

"It told on the run-in because we couldn't freshen the team up."

The killer blow came when the Gunners came to Old Trafford and Ferguson had to rely on John Curtis and Ben Thornley in a game United eventually lost to a late Marc Overmars goal.

Along with the last-day heartbreak in 1995 when United laid siege to the West Ham goal at Upton Park but failed to get a winner to prevent Blackburn clinching the title, it is a day etched in Ferguson's psyche.

However, he does concede the whole make-up of the Premier League has changed markedly in the intervening decade, making such comebacks - the like of which Chelsea need this term - substantially more difficult.

"It is a tough league now," said Ferguson.

"There are so many teams fighting for survival for a start, which makes it a challenge all the time.

"It is a far better league now. There are far better players and the standard of football is much higher."