Manchester United boss Van Gaal’s title claim not as mad as it seems

Seven points is anything but insurmountable at this halfway stage and given the stuttering form of Arsenal and City, this season is still anyone’s for the taking.

Louis Van Gaal’s claim that Manchester United can still win the English Premier League after their 1-0 win away to Liverpool on Sunday may sound like madness given their dire recent run of results.

Remember around Christmas when it seemed a matter of when, not if, the Manchester United manager would lose his job?

But unless the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City show more conviction in the coming weeks the Dutchman’s optimism may not be as blind as it seems.

United picked up just one win in the last eight games coming into Sunday’s match, putting Van Gaal’s future at Old Trafford in serious doubt.

So to turn around after recent defeats to lowly Bournemouth, Norwich and Stoke City, and say that the Red Devils can still win the title despite being seven points adrift in fifth, is a very bold claim. It’s a risky statement that will either lift his charges or dump an added pressure of expectation on his side.

Either way the fundamentals of his post-match spiel still stand, seven points is anything but insurmountable at this halfway stage and given the stuttering form of Arsenal and City, this season is still anyone’s for the taking. The trouble is noone is taking it by the scruff of the neck.

Away form

But for a run of five wins in October, Arsenal, joint league leaders with Leicester City, have struggled to string together a patch of title-winning dominance beyond two or three wins. One week in December they beat Manchester City 2-1 at home and the next they lost 4-0 away to Southampton. They’ve excruciatingly dropped points again, most recently away to Liverpool and Stoke.

Unless the Gunners can iron out that away form with just three points taken from their last five away trips, Arsene Wenger’s side aren’t going to be able to establish themselves as a championship-winning side. Or at least they don’t deserve to.

Manchester City, just a point behind in second, are exactly the same. Starting with five straight wins, they’ve only won two on the bounce once in October, after which they’ve been wildly inconsistent with losses and draws alternating each victory. Despite beating Crystal Palace 4-0 at home on Saturday, you can’t completely bargain on them picking up three points away to West Ham United this weekend, given their wild form.

I’ve overlooked Leicester City because it’s inconceivable to believe a side, which is only in its second season back in the top flight, can hold out at the top, but again — while they’ve been brilliant — their position is testament to the weakness of this season.

People may say that the EPL is a great league because anyone can beat anyone, but without a solid pacemaker setting the benchmark complacency creeps in, the damage of which could impact negatively upon English sides in Europe and English-based players in this summer’s European Championship.