Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted that United can't win the Premiership title this season following their recent run of poor league form.

The comments from the Scotsman came after his side's 0-0 Derby-Day draw with arch-rivals Manchester City at Old Trafford. Alan Smith was dismissed by referee Graham Poll late on in the game.

Ferguson also quipped that his players have to be hacked down with an axe in order to gain a penalty. "We are not good enough to win the title on that display - we have dropped another two points," he said.

"One win in our last five games is not championship form and I cannot excuse anyone in the club for that."

He added: "In fairness of Arsenal, we're going to be penalised for that and that's what is happening now."

"The referee was no way going to give a penalty. You would have to hit someone with an axe."

"They were clear pens and I don't know what to do about it. The laws of the game are there, if you are brought down or pulled back like Silvestre was, like Saha was, they're clear penalties, but we have to suffer at the moment."

The Red Devils manager of 18 years now has a real job on his hands trying to bring United back in contention with Arsenal and Chelsea, who are 9 and 11 points ahead respectively.