Sir Alex Ferguson has conceded that he did not expect his Manchester United side to be so far in front at the top of the Premier League at this stage of the season.

With nine matches left to play, Ferguson's team are 15 points ahead of their nearest challengers and city rivals Manchester City.

However, the Scot has confessed that he had anticipated a much tougher battle for his squad at the beginning of the campaign.

"With Manchester City coming on the scene in the last couple of years and Chelsea and Arsenal and Tottenham, you have teams vying for that top four position," he told Sirius XM. "I expected it to be really tight.

"The first point was that after last season, we wanted to make sure we didn't lose it on goal difference, and that has improved markedly. But I never thought we would be 15 points clear at this stage of the season."

Next up for United is a trip to the Stadium of Light on Saturday afternoon to take on Sunderland.