Manchester United face Chelsea (twice), Fulham and Manchester City in the next 11 days. This month's fixture list is relentless, but at the moment - so are The Red Devils. The missing piece is the puzzle has been put back into place by an in-form Wayne Rooney, or so it seems, writes an optimistic David O'Leary...

  Report By: David O'Leary, 9:20pm

If ever there were a need for the so-called 'big name' players we possess in our ranks to step up, the next 11 days would be the ideal time to do so. For guys like Fabio Da Silva, who must surely see Pat Evra’s advancing years as his main incentive to become our left back for the next ten years, now is when he needs to put his attacking duties on the backburner and concentrate on defending. For Chris Smalling, who must know by now word of his recent outstanding displays have reached Mr. Fabio Capello’s ears, he needs to continue to shine. 

For 'Darron Carrick and Michael Gibson' - I see no difference in either of their games or ability so I have decided to swap their names around to make them somewhat interesting - now is the time to silence the doubters. And there are many, let me tell you, starting with me.

The Michael Carrick one saw during his first 18 months here has long gone, and has been replaced by an inconsistent model. Darron Gibson, for all his power-packed long-range shots, offers little more than a physical presence. However - and this is a big however - the last few games has seen them somewhat up their efforts, maybe they now realise what the badge on the jersey means.

 I’ve said for sometime now that if Gibson were a (no disrespect intended) Everton or Newcastle player, he’d be admired and lauded. But United is a different ballgame - its not enough to be good, you need to be great. You need to want to be great, you need to want to win - the next 11 days should determine whether or not they belong here at OT.

Antonio Valencia and Park Ji Sung, for me personally, are the key to beating Chelsea over both legs. Why ? - Because with Valencia and Park’s endless motors, it will allow Luis Nani and Wayne Rooney to do what they do best and conserve their energy for doing just that. Against Chelsea on Wednesday, I’d have Antonio out right - and we know why. He’ll negate Ashley Cole going forward, and he give him fits defensively. 

He’ll stop a big part of their game by keeping him quiet. Park would be the focal point of what will surely be a three-man central midfield. Chelsea always use a deep lying midfielder to start their attacks, be it Michael Essien, John Obi Mikel or Fat Frank Lampard, it varies. Park is just the man to stop them doing so - a la Milan some years back. Nani hasn’t got much to worry about in Branislav Ivanovic coming forward and posing a threat. 

But we saw at the last game at The Bridge, he has it in him to track back and help like he did that night when matched
up with Cole.

Wayne Rooney, even after his F-Bomb themed rant Saturday, is back. And I mean back. I know and believe this because you just need to look at his celebrations for each of the four goals against The Hammers - he wants this title, bad. He wants to be the man to get us there; you juts have to look in his eyes to see the hunger. It hasn’t ever been
said, but I kind of maybe think that Wayne wants this more than he has in the past because this is his United team.

No Cristiano Ronaldo, just Wayne and the boys. Players say they ignore what they read in the papers - but they still read it, it still registers with them. He has received a lot of criticism this year due to him not scoring the goals from last season and because of the whole contract fiasco of 'will he or won’t he'...

Now he’s just Wayne. He’s in that frame of mind that makes him, unquestionably, one of the top 5 players alive. He’s got his swag back, and when he plays with that attitude - the right attitude, the one the ignites the fire within him - we’re
a different team. We’re a team of winners. And with Wayne playing like he is now, that’s exactly how we’ll end this season for us... as winners.