Wenger all but concedes

Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal's 1-0 defeat at Leeds last night has all but sealed the Premiership title for Manchester United…

Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal's 1-0 defeat at Leeds last night has all but sealed the Premiership title for Manchester United. Alex Ferguson's side, level on points with Arsenal but with a game in hand, play at Blackburn tonight before finishing the season at Old Trafford against Tottenham on Sunday.

Four points for Ferguson's men will give them the title, and Wenger admits one point tonight at Ewood Park is likely to give the championship to United.

"A point would be enough for them," Wenger said. "You can't imagine that at home on Sunday they would drop a point."

Wenger does feel Blackburn, who must win win their final two games to have a chance at avoiding relegation, have the firepower to cause Ferguson's men problems. "If you look at the teamsheet and the players they have, they can beat anybody in the Premier League," Wenger said.

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"But we are very disappointed because we wanted to win tonight and to win the championship. We gave everything. We had the great run since the game we lost at Aston Villa.

"As a manager you want your team to win everything. What can you say. We had 70 points at this time last year and we have 75 already this year, so that's remarkable consistency.

"I think it was really a strange game. It was a battle more than a technical game," Wenger said.

"But we had many chances before they scored and maybe that's where we're disappointed. I think we made a huge tactical mistake on the goal we conceded on the far post, we had very bad position."

Leeds manager David O'Leary insisted he would not allow himself or his players to get carried away after their win. "It was a great performance, we were playing a great team," O'Leary said. "We've got pride, I've got pride and I want them to have it. They're young and the sooner the better to get it into them and they went out there and gave their all."