John O'Shea's stoppage time winner at Anfield on Saturday allowed ten-man United to claim all three points against the run of the play and preserve a nine-point advantage over Chelsea at the top of the table.

But the win came at a price with Paul Scholes set to miss the next three domestic matches after being red-carded for aiming a punch at Liverpool's Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso.

Ferguson was also left sweating over the availability of Wayne Rooney for Wednesday's Champions League second round, second leg tie with Lille after the forward was forced off with a knee injury he suffered as a result of a challenge by England colleague Jamie Carragher.

With Ole Gunnar Solskjaer out for a month following knee surgery last week and on-loan Henrik Larsson due to return to Sweden next week, United's attacking options are rapidly diminishing as the season nears its climax.

No doubt with that in mind, Ferguson made it clear he was distinctly unimpressed with the lack of self-discipline displayed by Scholes, one of the most experienced members of his squad.

"I've seen it again and Paul has raised his hand and you just can't do that sort of thing," the Scot fumed.

Although Chelsea minimised the damage inflicted by United's win by beating Portsmouth later on Saturday, the nature of their rivals win inevitably strengthened the sense that the title is on its way back to Old Trafford.

"It was a massive result for us," Ferguson said. "You need that bit of luck to win titles and we got that last weekend against Fulham and again here. Liverpool will be disappointed they didn't get anything from the game."

Despite the loss of Scholes, Ferguson is confident his squad is strong enough to avoid a repeat of the late collapse that gifted Arsenal the Premiership title in 1998.

"I don't think anything is impossible in modern-day football. But in 1998 we had some terrible injuries and the pool then was nothing like as strong as it is today though. That helps us."

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez ordered his players to bounce back from the defeat by finishing off Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday.

"It's unbelievable how we lost it," Benitez said of Saturday's match. "We were attacking and had all the corners while United weren't really attacking. We created some very good chances but we didn't score.

"We are really disappointed but we have to be positive and think about Barcelona. If we play like that against Barcelona and have some luck then we have a good chance of going through."

The Liverpool boss acknowledged that United will be very hard to catch in the final run-in.

"United are really close to the title. Chelsea are a good team and can win games in a row but United can do the same."

The decisive moment in the match came in the second minute of added-on time after Ryan Giggs won a freekick on the left of the Liverpool box.

The angle looked too tight for a shot but Cristiano Ronaldo tried his luck anyway and, when Jose Reina proved unable to hold his low drive, O'Shea pounced to smash the ball high into the net from close range.

"I don't know if Reina could have done any better for the goal, I'll have to see it again," Benitez said. "But we should have scored before then."