Jamie Carragher has warned reigning champions Manchester United they face the scrap of their lives to retain their crown.

Alex Ferguson’s side have seen Liverpool cut their lead at the top cut from seven points to just one.

Carragher roared: “United will realise they are in a fight for the league now.

“We’re the form team, and this is the best time of the season to be in form.

“There’s not long to go now and hopefully we can keep it going - but United will know now that we are in there.”

Liverpool gave Aston Villa a 5-0 whacking on Sunday after beating United 4-1 at Old Trafford and putting four past Real Madrid in Europe.

The Reds capitalised on United and Chelsea both losing on Saturday and Carragher added: “It’s not normal for results to go for you at the top, so it put more pressure on us.

“Earlier in the season, we hadn’t been at the top before and we didn’t know how to deal with it.

“But we are maturing and getting used to the demands of fighting for a title.”

United have played a game less and Carra added: “One point with a game in hand is a decent lead. We’ve just got to stay on their coat-tails.”

The Indian players are keen that the IPL be staged in England as they would get a feel of the conditions before the T20 World Cup.

“It would make sense in having the event in England as it would help our cricketers prepare for the T20 World Cup. They could get a good feel of the conditions there,” said team India bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad.

Interestingly, South Africa-born India coach Gary Kirsten said that Johannesburg would be freezing in May, when the tournament will enter into its conclusive phase.

Meanwhile Prasad told PTI that he will join Chennai Super Kings as Assistant coach this season.

Prasad, who has drawn the best out of Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel and Praveen Kumar, would assist former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, who has been absorbed by the Chennai franchisee in the dual role of a player-coach.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni had led the Super Kings to the IPL final in its inaugural season.

“I will be associated with the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL this year. I am looking forward to work with Fleming and Dhoni,” Prasad, who last year was a part of the Bangalore Royal Challengers, said.

The IPL is slated to begin on April 10, either in South Africa or England.

Led by a brilliant ton by Shivnarine Chanderpaul, West Indies beat England by 21 runs to square the series 1-1.

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Shivnarine Chanderpaul returned to his Guyanese home and delivered a brilliant century to ensure West Indies made amends for their embarrassing opening defeat in the one-day series.Ever since coach John Dyson called in his batsmen for bad light on Friday evening, wrongly believing his side were ahead on the Duckworth Lewis tables, West Indies cricket has struggled to cope with the humiliation of such a blunder.

But Chanderpaul made the most of a reprieve on 27 to hit a brilliant 112 off 126 balls and restore West Indies’ pride by securing an emphatic 21-run victory which levelled the five-match series at 1-1 with three to play.

Chanderpaul even battled with cramp during the latter stages of his innings, which forced him to bat with a runner and miss the start of England’s reply, but did not prevent him audaciously reverse-sweeping two of his 10 boundaries.

His masterful display allowed West Indies to recover from losing two wickets inside the first six overs to post a competitive 264 for eight and England were dismissed for 242 in reply despite Andrew Strauss’ 105 off 129 balls, his first one-day international hundred in three years.

Just two days earlier Chanderpaul had hit 26 off one over from Steve Harmison, but this was a more measured innings where he was content to allow Ramnaresh Sarwan play the more aggressive role for a large part of their 133-run partnership.

West Indies’ most experienced pair had come together after Jimmy Anderson had removed openers Lendl Simmons and Chris Gayle during a superb opening spell of 6-1-15-2 which left West Indies struggling on 24 for two.

The pair progressed steadily until they reached the turning point of the match on 80 for two when wicketkeeper Matt Prior, standing up to the stumps to prevent Chanderpaul coming down the pitch to the medium pace of Dimitri Mascarenhas, dropped a thin edge at around knee height.

It was the moment which effectively cost England the match with Chanderpaul and Sarwan using all their vast experience to put West Indies into a position where they should have posted an even more challenging total.

Their stand was broken when Sarwan chipped the fourth ball of the batting power play from Anderson to Paul Collingwood at mid-off, but England knew Chanderpaul was the key wicket and frustrations almost boiled over four overs later.

Desperate to end Chanderpaul’s resistance, seamer Stuart Broad must have come close to disciplinary action from match referee Javagal Srinath for constantly questioning umpire Aleem Dar during a 10-ball over including four wides.

Strauss, called over by the umpire, wisely sent Broad out to the boundary to cool down and three late wickets from Collingwood’s medium pace prevented West Indies powering to an even bigger score and limiting them to 57 runs from the final 10 overs.

England’s reply mirrored the start to West Indies’ innings with Ravi Bopara and Kevin Pietersen falling inside the first eight overs, both playing on trying expansive shots during the first 10 overs of fielding restrictions.

Strauss played a valiant knock

Strauss, overlooked for one-day cricket by England’s selectors for two years, patiently attempted to rebuild the innings and added 50 runs with Owais Shah in a similar manner to Sarwan and Chanderpaul.

But no-one from England’s top six could keep him company long enough to build any momentum and the rest failed to reach past 22, leaving Strauss and the middle order with too big a retrieval task.

Strauss was also fortunate, dropped by Darren Sammy at slip before he had scored and again when he offered a relatively straightforward return catch on 28.

Unlike Chanderpaul, however, Strauss was unable to make West Indies pay for their fielding fumbles with Mascarenhas, who made a spirited 29 off 36 balls, finishing as England’s second highest scorer.

Mascarenhas wicket turned the game

Any hopes England had of securing another surprise victory were effectively ended when Strauss inadvertently ran out Mascarenhas with 15 overs remaining, leaving the England captain needing to marshal the lower order and also weigh up when best to take the batting power play.

He finally took the power play with six overs remaining and reached his third one-day international century but had his leg-stump removed by Kieron Pollard with England still needing 36 from 20 balls.

Pollard also finished off England’s resistance by bowling last man Anderson with 10 deliveries remaining, but it was local hero Chanderpaul - and the tourists’ failure to take a vital catch - that turned the momentum back in West Indies’ favour.

Andrew Flintoff has admitted his disappointment at being denied the chance to savour the IPL experience in India.

The clash between the lucrative Twenty20 tournament and the impending elections in India has prompted the organisers to look at alternative venues because government officials could not guarantee sufficient security for the matches.

South Africa and England are the leading candidates to become hosts at short notice and both boards are looking into the logistics of of staging 59 matches in six weeks from April 10 to May 29 with a decision due on Monday.

“I love playing cricket in India”

It opens up the prospect of England’s leading players spending more time at home but all-rounder Flintoff, the joint highest paid player after the Chennai Super Kings successfully bid US$1.5million for his services, would have preferred to experience the IPL in India.

“It’s disappointing news because one of the big attractions for me about the IPL was playing in India,” said Flintoff.

“I love playing cricket in India, particularly one-day cricket. I’ve never played a Twenty20 match over there but I can imagine it will be an unbelievable experience because as a player you don’t get a chance very often to play in front of big crowds of 40,000 to 50,000 people.

“It’s unfortunate but if we don’t do that this year then hopefully we can do it again next year.”

Flintoff was told the news on Sunday morning by agent Neil Fairbrother and must now wait with the other leading England players - Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ravi Bopara and Owais Shah - snapped up at the recent auction to discover where they are heading for their three-week stint in the tournament.

Dimitri Mascarenhas was also due to return and play with holders Rajasthan Royals while Essex’s Graham Napier has agreed a deal to play with the Mumbai Indians.

ECB to hold discussions

“It would make it logistically easier to have it at home (in England),” stressed Flintoff.

“It would be good to spend some more time at home so obviously I’d prefer England, but I’m sure South Africa would do a good job of staging it if it went there as well.”

He added: “I only heard about it this morning when I got a text from Neil Fairbrother telling me it wasn’t going to be in India and there were a couple of other options.

“I haven’t spoken to the franchise yet but I suppose that will happen once we know what is happening.”

Didier Drogba has received a caution for allegedly throwing a coin at Burnley fans during a match in November.

The 30-year-old star went to a London police station on Friday and was cautioned for common assault.The Chelsea star was said to have thrown the coin after he was on the receiving end of at least one missile during the Carling Cup fourth round tie at Stamford Bridge.

The incident took place when Drogba scored his first goal of the season after 27 minutes of the game.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: “On December 2, police interviewed a 30-year-old man under caution, by prior arrangement, in connection with an incident at the Chelsea v Burnley match at Stamford Bridge on November 12.

“He did not attend the police station and was not arrested.

“The matter was referred to the Crown Prosecution Service for their consideration, and on their advice the man attended a central London police station yesterday and was cautioned for common assault.”

Burnley won the match on penalties.

Kevin Pietersen admits he would have to “think long and hard” if he was offered the captaincy again in the future.

The South Africa-born batsman briefly held the position but relinquished the role after falling out with then-coach Peter Moores, with Andrew Strauss stepping in.

“I knew deep down the truth about what had happened, I knew the real truth about what people had said to me so I had no issues with any of the players,” Former England skipper told Sky Sports.

“I had no issues with Straussy taking over. I had issues with other departments of the management, but I didn’t have any issues with players and the people that have taken us on the trip.

“I’d have to think long and hard about doing it again because of my personality, because of the way I like to do things…We’ll have to wait and see.

“If it gets chucked at me, I’ll have to do a lot more thinking than the first time I took it over.”