John O' Shea: We'll heed Everton lesson

John O'Shea feels United could have been almost home and dry in the title race by now, had it not been for early-season away draws like the one against Saturday's opponents Everton.

The Reds still have a handsome advantage of course - six points clear of Chelsea and Arsenal with five games remaining - but O'Shea can't help lamenting the outcome at Goodison Park last September when the hosts cancelled out United's 3-1 lead in injury time.

"The clear memory of the Everton game earlier this season is that we should have been about 6-1 up," O'Shea said on Friday.

"We should have been out of sight.  We created so many chances but didn't take enough of them to finish the game off.

"We got punished for that in the end, conceding two sloppy goals. Once Everton made it 3-2, the noise of the crowd was immense. The fans really got behind the team, and their players started to pump balls into the box. They got the (third) goal they deserved for what they did in the last few minutes."

O'Shea is confident United will have learned from the experience, adding: "If we are 3-1 up with a couple of minutes to go tomorrow, I don't think the same situation would occur."

The 3-3 draw with the Toffees was one of four away games that United failed to win at the beginning of this peculiar campaign. But O'Shea is quick to point out that the Reds didn't lose those matches either.

"We were going to tough places and not losing," the Irishman said.

"In fact, we were coming away from matches really disappointed that we had not won quite comfortably.
"Our home form has been such a key factor for where we are in the league. With a little bit of tweaking away from home, to turn those draws into wins, we would have been comfortably on top now."