Prior to beating the Blues home and away in the Champions League, the Reds had lost three of the previous four meetings – the exception being the Community Shield match at Wembley.
The trio of league defeats, all painful in their own way, suggested Carlo Ancelotti’s men had the Indian sign over Sir Alex’s side. However, Ferdinand feels the two European wins have now swung the psychological pendulum back in United’s favour.
“Chelsea know we’re capable of beating them,” said Ferdinand on Friday.
“We know we played particularly well over the two legs, especially down there at Stamford Bridge. Whether it plays on the Chelsea players’ minds that we beat them recently, I don’t know. But we’re going into the game confident.”
The United defender said that while Sunday’s clash between the title rivals will be “another massive cup final”, there will still be work to do in the aftermath.
“This match will have a big say in where the title goes,” acknowledge Ferdinand, “but it won’t be done and dusted. You have to respect the fact there are two big games after that for both clubs, in our case against teams that are fighting for their lives.”
Ferdinand’s friend Frank Lampard will become a foe once again on Sunday. The Reds centre-back and Chelsea midfielder cut their senior football together at West Ham, prior to becoming regular team-mates in the England team. But Rio revealed they’ve had little contact since the season entered its final crucial phase.
“At this time of the season, Frank and I don’t really talk, if I’m honest,” said Ferdinand. “It’s an unwritten agreement between us… during the season we’ll send each other the odd text here and there but when it comes to the business end, if we’re both involved in the title race there’s not really any dialogue.”
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