Gary Neville is inclined to believe his former club Manchester United are not in the Premier League title race despite winning against Leeds in Sunday’s action at Elland Road.
This is despite Marcus Rashford breaking the deadlock at Elland Road with ten minutes remaining as he headed home from Luke Shaw’s cross before substitute Alejandro Garnacho wrapped up the points with a fine run and strike five minutes later.
Only four days after being held to a 2-2 draw by the same opposition, the clash had looked imminently frustrating for Erik ten Hag’s side, and ended up a stalemate for 80 minutes before United surged ahead to victory much later.
Rashford’s superb header found its way home from Luke Shaw’s cross and opened up the game to enable substitute Garnacho to tkick into action, displaying his awareness and link-up play to run on to Wout Weghorst’s pass to clinch a second goal seal the three points.
Despite the frustration they faced for the majority of the match, the visitors started running amok with Rashford slotting the ball into the net again only for it to be ruled out for a marginal offside call.
The final result brought United to within five points of the top of the Premier League and harboring faint title hopes, although league leaders Arsenal have two matches in hand. However, former defender Neville is not at all optimistic on their chances.
“I genuinely don’t think they are in the Premier League title race,” Neville told Sky Sports after the game, before explaining that he thought Ten Hag may be prioritising other competitions.
“What was interesting was I was watching the second half [against Leeds] and I didn’t think United were going to get the goal and I didn’t think they were going to get the win.
“At that point I was thinking Erik ten Hag has actually prioritised the Barcelona game this week. He’s put Martinez and Varane on the bench and saved them for Barcelona and played Shaw and Maguire at centre-back.”
Neville went on to conclude : “If he thought he could win the Premier League he would obviously prioritise that so I think even he’s thinking the title is beyond them. He got away with it today and it’s worked but I just don’t think they can win the Premier League. They have got so many games and I just don’t think they’re at the level of Man City and Arsenal right now.