Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has explained that he is not surprised that Manchester United have returned to form and that he believes they are in the Premier League title race.
United won the Carabao Cup final against City's opponents on Saturday, Newcastle and have only lost on four occasions in all competitions since August. Erik ten Hag's team currently sit third in the Premier League, six points behind City and 11 behind Arsenal.
However, the Reds do have a game in hand over the top two which has led some to ask if they are a serious threat for the title. Speaking to BT Sport before kick-off, Guardiola appeared to confirm that it is a three-horse race for the title.
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He explained: "They are back. Some are happy, this reunion, happier than the other ones, but it should happen sooner or later.
"I said a month ago United is back. Their body language, how they celebrate the goals, the commitment, how they run for each other - in the past it was not like that - you feel that this is United, come on.
"Sooner or later they should be back. The strange thing about [the last] seven or eight years is that they were not there. That was the big surprise for me when I arrived seven years ago."
While the Catalan manager believes that City have company when chasing down Arsenal, he did admit that his focus remains on the Gunners even when the fixture list is congested.
He added: "Always you take a look at the opponents. When we are going to play here, when we prepared the game we didn’t take a look at Arsenal, or like in the past Liverpool.
"Obviously you take a look at how they are playing and the results that they have - we prefer they lose - so that is normal. We know how good they are, they make 50 points in the first leg of the season, they are playing very, very good, so consistent, and we know we can only drop a few points if we want to stay there until the very end."
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