Michael Carrick has insisted that Manchester United are on course to mount a title challenge in the New Year.
The midfielder says that the Red Devils are currently in a better position than they were at this point last season and that they are ready to fight Manchester City for the top spot.
"City have set the standard and not dropped many points but there's a cluster of clubs behind them which we're heading up, so we're quite happy with the way things have gone," Carrick said.
"Of course we'd prefer to be on top but we're actually in a better position than last season and, hopefully, we'll be even closer to them come the end of the year."
Carrick also pointed out that City are not United's only threat.
"We've seen a lot of the big teams move up the table. Tottenham have been on a great run, Arsenal have come on strong and Liverpool are picking up points too.
"It may stay like that for a bit, even going into February or March you can have three or four involved and then it ends up being only two.
"The important thing for us at the moment is making sure we stick close to those teams and, hopefully, get that top spot as soon as we can."
United are currently second in the Premier League, two points off leaders Manchester City.
