ROONEY RELISHING REDS' PURPLE PATCH

Wayne Rooney picked up the Barclays Player of the Month award for March and then set United on their way to a 2-0 victory over Arsenal at Old Trafford on Sunday, scoring the first and setting up Ji-sung Park for the second.

As Rooney told United Review, he’s enjoying being involved in some of the best football the Reds have played since he arrived at Old Trafford from Everton for £27million in summer 2004.

Is this the team’s best run of form since you joined United?

Yeah, we’ve been in great form and we’ve beaten some good sides. Personally I’ve been happy with how it’s going so I just want to keep adding to the team and help us win games.

The current run is a tribute to the midfield who have been doing a great job under difficult circumstances…

Definitely, Giggsy and Sheasy have gone into the centre of midfield in the last few games and have done really well for us, they’ve been solid and have been giving good service to the strikers. Fletch came back in again against Bolton and did a good job for us. We’ve got a few players coming back from injury now and the squad is getting bigger every week.

It’s a great position for the team to be in with all three strikers scoring regularly…

It is, and we all know now we’ve got to play well to make sure we get in the team next time and it keeps us all on our toes. Hopefully that’ll continue to keep the competition for places.
"I've got a cabinet in my house where I keep my awards… hopefully it'll be full before long!"
The way everyone celebrates no matter who’s scored the goals illustrates the team spirit at the club…

Definitely. The spirit is high, and we need to keep believing in ourselves. If we do that then we’ll be there in the end, I think.

What different qualities do Louis and Ruud bring when you’re playing alongside them?

Louis is a big strong lad, he makes a lot more runs in behind and he’s scoring loads of goals. And Ruud... well Ruud’s just a poacher! He holds the ball up well and gets so many goals through the season and you can’t argue with that.

United played Bolton recently, and Chelsea still have to travel to the Reebok. How tough a place is it to visit?

It’s a difficult place to go, especially with the pitch which isn’t the best around as we saw. Their fans get right behind them as well which also makes it difficult but we did well under the circumstances and deserved the three points.

Have you been studying the run-in all the way or is it only recently you started to look at Chelsea’s last matches now it’s a bit tighter?

Not really, again we want to concentrate 100% on our own games and concentrate on what we do. Nothing’s changed there but we know that if we can keep winning, we can push Chelsea and try to get as close to them as possible.

This season you picked up your first piece of silverware at United, how did that feel?

It was brilliant, it’s the best feeling I’ve had in my football career, especially to score two goals in the final. Even though the scoreline was convincing it was a hard game at times so it was brilliant to lift the trophy at the end of it.

Where do you keep your medals and awards?

I’ve got a cabinet in my house where I keep my awards… hopefully it’ll be full before long!