Rio Ferdinand has admitted he will not "get carried away" regarding Manchester United's Premier League title chances after their victory against Manchester City. The title battle appeared to be a straight shoot out between City and Arsenal, but United's recent string of results has thrust them into the picture.
A weekend of major derbies kicked off with City travelling to Old Trafford where a win would close the gap to just two points before the Gunners take on Tottenham Hotspur in the North London Derby. However, late goals from Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford condemned Pep Guardiola's men to their second defeat of the week after being knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Southampton in midweek.
Jack Grealish had put City in front after a dominating start to the second half from the visitors, but Fernandes stroked home an equaliser marred in controversy after Rashford was deemed by VAR not to be interfering with play, despite racing towards the ball from an offside position. The England international then slid home the winner after a great ball in from Alejandro Garnacho.
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The turnaround victory for United means they have won all four of their Premier League games since the resumption of domestic football following the conclusion of the World Cup. An FA Cup victory and two triumphs in the Carabao Cup also means Erik ten Hag's side have a 100% winning record from all of their seven games since Boxing Day.
Arsenal's next two results could ultimately decide whether United can be considered to be in the title race as they take on Tottenham before then facing United, who remain as the only team to beat Mikel Arteta's men this season, at the Emirates Stadium.
Those three points against City has taken the Red Devils to just a point behind their bitter rivals and six away from Arsenal. With United taking on Palace next Wednesday and then facing the leaders the following weekend, if everything goes the way of United, the two teams could be level on points in just eight days.
However, Rio Ferdinand has insisted that despite the excellent result and performance in the Manchester Derby he will not be thinking about a possible title charge for his former club.
Speaking on BT Sport after the game, he said: "I’m not going to get carried away, I’m just going to remain calm, I’ve had my little moment of excitement in the studio."
While he was keen to not get carried away about a title charge being possible in this campaign, he did not rule out one for the future, citing the clubs "mentality" as a key factor, possibly even hinting they could yet make a late push this season.
"I spoke about [them] being fragile in recent years, this Man United team," he said. "Going 1-0 down against a team like Manchester City in the past they would have absolutely folded - today they gathered their concentration, remained calm, came back into the game, and they’ve come out of it with three points, that’s a massive, massive shift in mentality in this squad now and it only bodes well for the future."
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