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Gary Neville urges caution over Manchester United title optimism

Gary Neville urges fans of both Manchester sides not to get "carried away" by their early-season form.

Gary Neville has urged supporters of both Manchester clubs to not "get carried away" by both sides' early-season form.

With 13 points apiece and an identical goal difference from the first five games, Manchester United and Manchester City currently sit joint top of the Premier League.

Jose Mourinho's side have scored four goals in three of those games, while Pep Guardiola's City scored 15 goals without reply in three outings last week - including a win at Feyenoord in the Champions League - but ex-United defender Neville thinks that it is still "too early" in the campaign to jump to any title conclusions.

"I did say at the start of the season that the title would end up in Manchester and the evidence so far supports that, but it's far too early for either club to get carried away," he wrote in his column for Sky Sports News. "You would have said, from the fixtures, United should have been at the top at this stage, but I think the table will start to even out once we see them against tougher sides.

"There are still big questions about both United and City. Can United break down sides? Can Manchester City handle it against more physical sides?

"If you look at United, you saw them make mistakes at Stoke and there were chances for Everton, but ultimately the weaknesses they have shown at the back are covered by a goalkeeper in David de Gea who is absolutely world-class. To me they are looking a lot better than before in terms of breaking sides down and killing off games.

"I think City were always going to be more impressive in their attacking style. The Arsenal of yesteryear were similar to this Manchester City side in terms of playing really exciting football, but the challenge is doing that in tougher games. I think what we want to see is them tested in big games and that was developing against Liverpool before the Sadio Mane red card, so, for now, they've only demonstrated they can dominate the lower teams."

United are enjoying their best start to a Premier League season since 2011-12, when they won the first five of their games under Sir Alex Ferguson.

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Written by
Neil Wilkes
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Romelu Lukaku celebrates scoring the third during the Premier League game between Manchester United and Everton on September 17, 2017
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TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool14112129111835
2Chelsea1594235181731
3Arsenal1585229151429
4Manchester CityMan City158342721627
5Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest157441918125
6Aston Villa157442323025
7Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton156632522324
8Bournemouth157352320324
9Brentford157263128323
10Fulham156542220223
11Tottenham HotspurSpurs1562731191220
12Newcastle UnitedNewcastle155551921-220
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd155461918119
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham155372028-818
15Everton143561421-714
16Leicester CityLeicester153572130-914
17Crystal Palace152761420-613
18Ipswich TownIpswich151681427-139
19Wolverhampton WanderersWolves1523102338-159
20Southampton1512121131-205


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