Sir Alex Ferguson has hit back at scathing criticism from Rafael Benitez by claiming he was bemused by the extraordinary verbal attack unleashed by the Liverpool boss last week. Speaking after a 3-0 win over Chelsea established the champions as firm favourites to retain their Premier League title, Ferguson was dismissive of an outburst in which Benitez accused him of hypocrisy, of bullying officials and of being a serial whinger.

"I think you have got to cut through the venom of it and hopefully he will reflect and understand that what he is saying was absolutely ridiculous. He is an angry man and I think he was disturbed for some reason or another -- that is all I've got to say about it," the Scot said.

Ferguson refused to respond to Benitez's allegations that officials were systematically intimidated at Old Trafford and that the United manager received special treatment from English football chiefs. Instead, he contented himself with a reminder that United will go top of the table if they win their two matches in hand over Liverpool.

"I'm not going to get into that (what Benitez said)," Ferguson added. "At this moment in time we're concentrating on trying to catch the leaders which is Liverpool. We have got games in hand of course and we want to try and catch them up."