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Manchester United legends Gary Neville and Roy Keane have stated that a fifth place finish for Erik ten Hag’s men come the end of the season would be a positive outcome.
United climbed to sixth position after their dominant 3-0 win against West Ham on Sunday.
A goal from Rasmus Hojlund and an Alejandro Garnacho double secured all three points for United.
The Red Devils are now unbeaten in five games across all competitions and will be looking to extend that run when they travel to Villa Park on Sunday to take on Unai Emery’s side.
United are currently eight points adrift of Villa in fourth.
The clash is shaping up to be a crucial one with respect to deciding which clubs will be playing Champions League football next season.
Neville and Keane spoke on Sky Sports and suggested that a top four finish may ultimately prove to be an unattainable target for Ten Hag and his players.
During a campaign in which the team has been plagued by injuries and multiple off-the-pitch issues, the United legends agreed that finishing in fifth would not be too bad for the 20-time English champions.
Keane said, “A positive end for them this season would be finishing fifth and getting back into the Champions League if that’d be enough for them to do so.”
“I think they have enough, they have one or two important players back, which’ll help them balance the squad out, but most importantly, they’re scoring goals again.”
“They’ve been giving away sloppy goals but the fact that the attacking players are scoring, it helps them because the lack of goals was very surprising to me in the first half of the season.”
Neville weighed in and remarked on the topic, “Roy said it that fifth is the best I think they could ever possibly do. One of those teams, Aston Villa or Tottenham, would have to slip up because I don’t think they’re anywhere near Arsenal, City or Liverpool – those teams are gone.”
Keane pointed out that Ten Hag’s saving grace could come from winning the FA Cup.