Vidic: 2012's lessons

Nemanja Vidic turned in a Man of the Match display against West Brom to help maintain United’s seven-point lead at the top of the Barclays Premier League – but he says the Reds must keep in mind last season’s finale to avoid surrendering the advantage.

Vidic produced an archetypal captain’s display against the Baggies, displaying the warrior-like defending Sir Alex Ferguson lauds him for.

It was only a fifth clean sheet of the campaign so far for United and with unblemished records that rare it’s understandable to look for an influential cause. Vidic collected 59% of fans’ votes in our poll, beating Michael Carrick (15%), Ashley Young (14%), Tom Cleverley (10%) and Patrice Evra (2%) in our five-man shortlist.

However, it is the team’s position and not personal accolades that concern Nemanja, who told MUTV: “It is good to have this [seven point] advantage. But we have to be careful. There is still a long way to go. We have the experience of last year when we were eight points in front and in the end it didn't finish well.