The veteran Dutchman kept his 14th consecutive Premier League clean sheet against former club Fulham on Wednesday night.

If he keeps Blackburn out for 89 minutes of tomorrow's Old Trafford encounter, it would represent the longest barren streak in European top flight history, breaking the record set by former Club Brugge stopper Dany Verlinden in 1990.

While Van der Sar is clearly keen to maintain his staggering run, the 38-year-old is more concerned by adding trophies to his collection.

His focus this weekend will therefore be on Blackburn, not Chelsea's visit to Aston Villa earlier in the day or Liverpool's encounter with Manchester City 24 hours later.

"Footballers have to be strong," he said.

"Seeing their rivals win won't stop their determination.

"That is why we think of ourselves and what we can do to win games and stay top of the league.

"That way, when it comes to the finishing line, hopefully we will have our noses in front of Chelsea and Liverpool, who are now our main rivals for the title."

Whether Chelsea are still in the hunt having now fallen 10 points adrift of the Red Devils is a debatable point.

Sir Alex Ferguson seems to think the task Guus Hiddink faces to complete such a massive turnaround is too great.

With a massive Champions League encounter with Inter Milan to come on Tuesday, Ferguson has the pleasant option of leaving out some key men to allow others to shoulder the responsibility of overcoming Blackburn.

Darren Fletcher, Rafael and Jonny Evans are three of that number, while Ryan Giggs is likely to be involved too given he got no nearer the midweek action than a place in the stands.

Having made his own comeback from a seven-match absence with a hamstring injury by scoring with his first touch against the Cottagers, Wayne Rooney is itching to be involved.

"We have been on an unbelievable run," he said.

"I have missed seven games and we have won the lot.

"I felt I could have been back a bit sooner, even if the wise decision between the fitness department and myself was to leave it a couple more weeks.

"We are on a big run-in now and I have seen players come back too soon, do it again and be out for another five or six weeks.

"The most important thing was to stop that happening.

"But you do think 'How am I going to get back into this team?' It is a dream to be involved. It just gets better with each game."