Ander Herrera believes Manchester United’s five-point deficit to Manchester City in the title race can be overhauled, the midfielder pointing to how City overtook United to claim the championship four years ago despite trailing by eight points with only six games left of that campaign.
In 2011-12 Sir Alex Ferguson’s team led by eight points from Roberto Mancini’s yet the Italian’s side won the championship on the final day. Herrera admitted Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Stoke City at Old Trafford was painful, given United’s dominance, but he remains confident.
He said: “When I was in Spain, I remember United being eight points ahead of City with only six games but they still lost that title. So in the Premier League, anything can happen. You never know because anything can happen whether you are in front or behind the opponent.
“But we are very sad because we should have won clearly this game. These are the kind of games we shouldn’t draw at home because we played fantastic. That is why we are not happy. We cannot believe we did not win this game. I think it was our best performance so far. We played very good. We created maybe 11 chances. When you want to fight for everything these days are more painful. But we can take a lot of good things from this game.”
Following the international break Herrera is determined United do not repeat what occurred after the previous one. “We lost three games in a row so we have to avoid that,” he said.
“We know we have to come back very strong. We have to play two very tough Premier League games away – Liverpool and Chelsea – and between them Fenerbahce in the Europa League. That is a very important game as well. We want to win to be able to face the rest of the group in a calm way.
“But in football you never know. Maybe we go to Liverpool and create [only] two chances and yet we win the game. This is football and we have to accept that.”
United also face City in the EFL Cup in this period. Mourinho’s men take on the league leaders at Old Trafford on 26 October having lost 2-1 – and being generally outplayed – when the sides met there last month.
“We have a very good squad, we have shown that, and we can face every game in every competition,” Herrera said.
