Experience will be the key to beating City in the title race, says Rio

Rio Ferdinand claimed Manchester United’s experience can see them close out the title race to claim the club’s 20th championship.

United consolidated their place at the summit of the Premier League with a comfortable win over relegation-threatened QPR at Old Trafford.

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And Ferdinand, a five-time title winner with United, said Sir Alex Ferguson’s side have the mental edge over rivals Manchester City ahead of the run-in.

“Experience is huge,” said Ferdinand. “We’ve been in this position before so that counts for a lot.

“We know what it takes to get over the finishing line first and we’ve got to use that experience and make sure we do that again.

“Even the young players are putting their two pence worth in and it’s a team effort, everyone’s contribution counts.

“We didn’t think about getting back into this position, we never doubted we could put a run of games together.

“You need to get momentum at this stage of the season, that’s the most important thing, getting a good run of games together and making sure you get a run of games together.

“We’ve picked another one off and hopefully we can keep that going.”

United were handed a contentious opener when Ashley Young won a penalty, despite being offside prior to the challenge which saw QPR skipper Shaun Derry shown a straight red.

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Wayne Rooney scored from the spot and Paul Scholes added a second to give United an eighth straight Premier League win.

Ferguson said: “I’m happy we won. That’s the name of the game at the moment.

“I’m pleased with that [eight wins in a row]. There’s good consistency in terms of the defending, although today we didn’t have a lot to do in terms of defending.

“The other good thing is that we’re a goal better off than City in terms of our goal difference and there’s also a game less to play.

“There are only six left now, three at home and three away, and hopefully we can run it out now.”