United can still win title this season, says De Gea
DAVID DE GEA believes Manchester United can finally bring the Premier League title back to Old Trafford this season, despite their suspect home form and heartache in Europe.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side responded well to their chastening midweek Champions League exit at RB Leipzig by battening down the hatches and securing a 0-0 draw in a drab derby with Manchester City.
United ended Saturday eighth in the table but only four points off the top, with De Gea confident of challenging for a first title since Sir Alex Ferguson bowed out in 2013. ‘Today we looked very well, very strong,’ he said.
‘Now I think this year the Premier League is very open, many teams are fighting for the title, so we have to dream. We have to believe that we can win the league this year and go for it.
‘It’s a very strange season. To be honest, there’s many teams there fighting for the top place, so I think we need to be very focused every game and try to win the Premier League.’
United had won their previous four league matches before the tepid draw on Saturday, when the Reds showed the focus and defensive resilience that has been sorely lacking recently.
The backline came in for criticism for their performance in last Tuesday’s costly 3-2 loss in Leipzig, as did De Gea for his attempt at stopping Justin Kluivert’s decisive third goal.
‘I think defensively we’ve been perfect tonight,’ De Gea said. ‘They don’t create many chances, maybe two or three big chances, but I think against them it was defensively a great game.
‘So we need to be happy, of course, for the clean sheet but maybe it’s not enough. We play at home. We always want to win, especially against Man City, so I think we missed a big chance to beat them today.’
Asked if there was a determination to show the true United after the midweek criticism, De Gea added: ‘Of course. For me, the most important thing in the team is the defensive part, so today we showed again that we can defend very good.
‘We can be very strong in the back four. I think the whole team pressed really high, so we made them make mistakes in the build-up.
‘I think it was a good game for us, a tight game, so the draw was fine.’
I think it was a good game for us, a tight game, so the draw was fine