Man Utd backed to shake up Premier League title race by Rafael Benitez

Keys to the title: Benitez reckons Man Utd can still play a big role in the race for the Premier League trophy
Action Images via Reuters
Damian Spellman2 January 2019

Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez has warned the rest of the Premier League not to write off Manchester United just yet.

Despite their rapid improvement under interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, which has seen United brush aside Cardiff, Huddersfield and Bournemouth, the Red Devils will head into 2019 sitting in sixth place and trailing leaders Liverpool by 19 points.

That gap may be too big to close, but Benitez, who will send his side into battle with Solskjaer's men at St James' Park on Wednesday evening, is confident they can still cause problems for the main title contenders.

The Spaniard said: "Do you think the players that they have after spending the money they did are bad players? They are good players on the pitch, they have performed in the last three games - it is a very good team.

"It is a team that has to be in the top four, that is very clear. They can compete against anyone, Liverpool, Manchester City, anyone.

"We are talking about one of the biggest clubs in the world in terms of everything, the players they have, the names they have.

"They are so good, if you want to get points against them, if you want to win against them, you have to perform really, really well."

Newcastle did just that in February last year when United left Tyneside on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline thanks to Matt Ritchie's strike.

They also stunned Old Trafford into silence in October when they took a 2-0 lead before Jose Mourinho's United launched a comeback which saw Alexis Sanchez snatch victory at the death.

In Pictures | Man Utd vs Bournemouth | 20/12/2018

1/24

Benitez said: "If anything you need a bit of luck. Against the top sides, you need even more luck. If you make a couple of mistakes, maybe they will score a couple of goals. The top sides punish you.

"Obviously they have won a couple of games now and have more happy people around, but when you are winning, that is normal, it has to be like that.

Benitez's struggler were 2-0 up at Old Trafford before a second-half fightback from the hosts in October
AFP/Getty Images

"Hopefully they will be disappointed after our game and after, they can do what they want. For us, it is a massive game against a good team. It doesn't matter the manager now, they have good players and that is the main thing."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT