Gary Neville hands Manchester United warning after Arsenal defeat

Manchester United legend-turned-pundit Gary Neville has said that the Red Devils have a long way to go before they can consider the current season to be a success. The Mancunian giants have managed to return to the top-four mix with an excellent league run under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer but they faced a setback against Arsenal after they were beaten by a comfortable 2-0 scoreline on the road.

Speaking after the game, Neville said that the Red Devils face a testing period in the forthcoming month with regular injury concerns hampering the team. He added that the season remains far from successful at the moment and the players need to concentrate on the forthcoming matches starting from the FA Cup quarter-final at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

He said: “If you start to look at the period from April 9-28 it’s a real testing period. With the squad that is creaking a little bit. There is a long way to go for this to be a successful season for United. They have to be careful not to end up falling in between everything and doing well but not really concentrating on one competition more than the other. That’s something which Ole has to concentrate on in this next five or six weeks.”

With the 2-0 defeat to Arsenal, United have dropped two points adrift of the fourth position but they have another nine matches to make amends for the same. During this period, they have tricky challenges against Manchester City and Chelsea at Old Trafford and those matches could make or break their ambitions of qualifying for next season’s Champions League through a top-four finish.

Elsewhere, they stand the chance of bagging silverware after reaching the quarter final stages of the FA Cup and Champions League but the former should remain their most realistic option, given Manchester City are the only team from the top six, who are still in the tournament. However, they need to first overcome the challenge of Wolves on the road and that won’t be easy, considering the west Midlands outfit have exceeded their expectations when facing the elite teams.