Gary Neville believes it is still "too early" for Erik ten Hag's team to mount a challenge, but he acknowledges it is "not absurd" to suggest Manchester United may win the Premier League after Arsenal and Manchester City both made mistakes. He emphasized on Christian Eriksen's absence as one of the reasons his former side will fall short of challenging for the title.
The top of the Premier League had an eventful weekend with Arsenal and Man City losing to Everton and Tottenham, respectively.
In Sean Dyche's debut game in charge at Goodison Park, the Gunners suffered just their second loss of the year, falling to Everton 1-0.
After that, Manchester City had a chance to trim the gap between Arsenal and the opposition at the top of the standings to just two points, but they fell short by the same score as Harry Kane set a new record for goals scored by Tottenham.
Manchester United defeated Crystal Palace at home to go within five points of local rivals Manchester City and eight points of league leaders Arsenal while the title rivals suffered defeats.
"Are we in with a chance again?’ Neville stated on his Sky Sports podcast. "Look, I don’t think Manchester United will get there, I think they will fall short."
"They’re just not quite there and the Christian Eriksen injury will hurt, but they’re doing really, really well and they’re competing again."
The former Manchester United's right back also pointed out that the atmosphere within the club also plays an important role in the Red Devils resurgence this season but he is not convinced about the team's title potential.
"They look happy too and that’s a really big thing. You need that. From that point of view United are doing well,"
"It’s not ridiculous to say they could win the title. I don’t think they will and I’ve never thought they will this season because it’s a bit early for that but I would be getting worried if I was Manchester City," he explained.
"The fans will start getting worried now with the way they’re playing and the way Pep Guardiola is tinkering with the team. United look a happy bunch, City look a bit moody and need to come out of that spell."
"Man City could easily still win the league but Man United are in a good position too."
Erik ten Hag, who joined Manchester United from Ajax this summer, appears to be making tremendous progress despite the fact that the team has not won a trophy since 2017.
The Red Devils will play Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final and are likely to finish in the top four of the Premier League.
Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, asserted that Manchester City shouldn't even be considering defending their Premier League crown with their continued loss to Spurs.
"We are not in the position to think about being champions,’ he told Sky Sports. "The position is the next game, Aston Villa."
"We have one week, going to prepare well, and we’re going to play our game as best as possible. Against that team it has happened many times. Tottenham is a fantastic squad, team and manager."
"They punish you. Every time we arrive hear I have the feeling they don’t need much to beat us. In the last times we’ve come, we monopolised the game, found the spaces and create chances, but we lose."
"They have a lot of quality and they don’t need much in transition and set pieces. I give a lot of credit to them. I don’t say we cannot lose against them – I have the feeling all the time the same. It’s difficult," Pep stated.
If Arsenal wins their game remaining, they will pass Manchester City by eight points, but they still have two more matches against Guardiola's team still to play.
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