Gary Neville has admitted that Manchester United’s “obvious” superiority over Liverpool means they now have a great chance of finishing in the top four.
Coming off the back of their worst ever Premier League season, there was expected to be a period of adaptation to Erik ten Hag’s methods - after being named as new manager at the start of the summer.
But following a humbling start to the season which saw them lose twice on the spin, the Red Devils have been beaten just once in their next 10 in the league. That form has put Ten Hag’s charges on the verge of the Champions League places, sitting just one point behind fourth-placed Newcastle United with a game in hand.
Pep Guardiola, whose City side are the only to record a win against United since August, recently proclaimed they were “finally back”, with a narrow win over West Ham helping to underline their credentials once more. David de Gea was the hero for the hosts at Old Trafford, making a string of saves to preserve a clean sheet in the 1-0 win.
And United legend Neville thinks their recent form means they are a serious contender for a top-four finish, with some of their rivals - including Liverpool - going through issues of their own.
“I think they’ve got a great chance of finishing in the top-four now, a great chance,” he told Sky Sports. “There’s enough going on at Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham for United to feel confident that they can push through that bunch.
“I never would have thought that four or five weeks ago. You look at United’s forward line, they might have the weaker players at this moment in time but there’s something happening with Erik ten Hag that is giving them a great spirit.”
Should United secure a return to the Champions League, it looks likely that it will be at the expense of Liverpool. Under Jurgen Klopp the Reds have finished in the top four in each of the last six seasons, but have endured a desperate start to the new campaign.
Defeat to Leeds United last time out means Liverpool are already seven points behind United and Neville has revealed he didn’t see their struggles on the horizon, giving his old side a major advantage.
Neville added: “Everyone just imagined that Manchester City and Liverpool would be clear again. I don’t think anyone could have foreseen what’s happening at Liverpool right now, I certainly didn’t.
“I thought they were bankers to finish first or second, now they’ve got a battle just to get the top four. Right now Man United look better than Liverpool, that’s obvious. There’s more questions than answers at Liverpool. I don’t think they will get top four now.”
Despite the positivity emanating from the United dressing room, Ten Hag is refusing to get carried away and insists his side still have plenty of areas where they need to get better: “I see a lot of room for improvement in our game and we have to if we want to compete for the top four positions, we have to improve,” he explained.
"For instance, the first half we have to dominate more on the ball, to bring ourselves in better positions between the lines. Second half, definitely, we were quite poor in possession, there was a lot of space on the pitch, we give away the ball too easily, many wrong decisions, we go direct for goal instead of keeping the ball.”
