Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag picks title favourites between Man City and Arsenal

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Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has insisted that only Manchester City can rightfully consider themselves Premier League title contenders ahead of the new campaign. The reigning European champions will go into the new season with high hopes of claiming their fourth straight title, which would break the existing record for the most successive English top-flight triumphs.

Arsenal will also be looking to challenge for the end-of-season honours after running City close last time around, with the Gunners having spent hundreds of millions on strengthening their squad this summer. However, Ten Hag is adamant that every top team apart from City should be focused on securing a top-four finish rather than getting carried away with their ambitions of winning the league.

“I think in pre-season we shouldn’t talk about that,” said the Dutchman. “I think no-one in the Premier League can do that. Maybe City, they can do that, because for the last six years they won the title five times.

“So they can talk about that, but any other club must first compete for the first four positions and make sure you are getting in the first four. After that, the first two, then maybe you can see about getting yourself into such a position, but don’t talk about that achievement.”

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Although Ten Hag is fully aware that City will be the team to beat next season, he went on to explain that it will be more important for United to keep working hard on improving themselves rather than worrying too much about catching their local rivals.

“We’ve proved we can beat them, but you have to do it every day and, at this moment, we have a way to go,” he added. “City are also winning their games much more easily than we did, so I see the facts, but I don’t want to talk about them because it sounds negative.

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“I want to talk about our project. I want to talk about how we have improved and I think the improvements last year and the results were quite obvious. Also, in the performances, it was quite obvious we could beat the big opponents, particularly City. In the three games you saw absolutely that we increased the levels against them.

“We’re looking for ourselves and not at other teams. We have a competition with seven or eight clubs in the Premier League. Across Europe, even more teams, so we have to work on our way of play and improve our performance.”

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