Manchester United have been told they have got their top four rivals “worried” with their momentum, with Alejandro Garnacho branded as a top discovery.
The Reds resume their Premier League season with a clash against Nottingham Forest on Tuesday after beating Burnley 2-0 in the League Cup in their first match back after the break. Garnacho scored his first Premier League goal in stoppage-time to hand his side a late 2-1 win over Fulham in their last game prior to the pause.
United are seven home games unbeaten but will likely be without World Cup finalists Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez against Forest and are awaiting the status of Diogo Dalot after he missed the victory over Burnley with “small complaints”.
READ MORE: Erik ten Hag provides update on Martinez and Varane
But Paul Merson believes, in the long run, United are the top four contenders to watch and are on the coattails of Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham. They went into the break three points off the top four and Merson says their uptick in form under Erik ten Hag will cause concern for their rivals.
He praised Garnacho and three other teammates who have impressed during the first half of the campaign. “I like the manager,” Merson said. “I think he can’t believe his luck with what’s happened with the Ronaldo situation. I think Man United have got a good chance [of top four].
“I thought the Fulham game - if there was ever going to be one team to score the winning goal in that game, it was going to be Fulham but they found a way of coming up. That’s what you’ve got to do if you want to finish in the top four, keep finding solutions.”
He added: “They’ve got a find in the lad [Garnacho] who scored the goal, he looks a good player. [Marcus] Rashford was on fire and is full of confidence, the World Cup’s done no harm to Maguire.
“They’re starting to play well and starting to play with that pace again on the counter-attack. You’ve got Rashford on the counter-attack, Eriksen’s goal, Casemiro who looks as good a holding midfield player that we’ve seen.
“It’s coming together, I’d be worried if I was Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham at the moment.”
READ NEXT:
