
Manchester United need to tighten up at Old Trafford if they are to challenge twice winners Chelsea for the English title, manager Alex Ferguson said.
United dropped 13 points at home last season compared with two by the champions who won 18 of their 19 league matches at Stamford Bridge.
"If you look at Chelsea's home record in the last two years, it's been absolutely superb," Ferguson told reporters before United's Sunday's opening game against Fulham at Old Trafford.
"We identify the areas we want to improve and obviously five home draws last season can be better. I think we can do better than that particularly the two 0-0 draws.
"That was frustrating for us at the end of the season when we had a good momentum going.
"Our away form last season was excellent so we want to convert those five draws into wins."
When United last won the title in 2003, they won 16, drew two and lost one of their fixtures at Old Trafford.
Ferguson also believes long-term injuries, particularly at the start of the season when Roy Keane, Gary Neville and Gabriel Heinze and Ryan Giggs were sidelined, cost his side dearly last year.
The United manager hopes to avoid a similar scenario this term and says his squad can cope with the inevitable minor injury complaints.
United will be without a number of players for the visit of Fulham with recent signing Michael Carrick among those unavailable with an ankle injury suffered during a pre-season game against Ajax in Amsterdam.
Carrick is scheduled to resume training next week and Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic, who missed the World Cup finals with a knee injury, is also close to fitness.
Striker Alan Smith is only a couple of weeks away from a return to senior action after breaking a leg in February. Heinze will not be considered for first-team duty until next month, however. The Argentina defender is continuing to build up his muscle strength, despite playing in the World Cup.
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