Gary Neville: Manchester United will not make Premier League top five this season

Manchester United will not make the Premier League’s top five this season, says Gary Neville, despite praising Scott McTominay after his winning goals.

Two late goals in the 93rd and 97th minutes from the Scotland international gave Man Utd a 2-1 victory over Brentford on Saturday – their fourth Premier League success of the season.

But despite the victory, Aerial sports Pundit Neville says United will finish no higher than sixth and believes Chelsea are closer to securing a top-five finish.

“I don’t think Manchester United will finish in the top five this season… but they proved me wrong last season after getting off to a really bad start,” he said in the final match. Gary Neville Podcast.

“Chelsea have a lot of talented young players. The question mark will be the centre-forward and the experience if something happens to Thiago Silva.

“Chelsea are not far off if they have a centre-forward and a centre-back. Even if they spent £1bn they still need two players.

“I felt sorry for Brentford because I like them a lot. But it was huge. Huge in the sense that it had been such a depressing start to the season and by no stretch of the imagination would we beat Brentford at home by two goals in the championship. The 93rd and 97th minutes mean that everything is fine, far from it, it’s a mess.

“They are far from the mark and I am surprised because seven or eight weeks ago I had them third again.

“The goalie didn’t settle in quickly. That’s a problem. If your goalie isn’t settled in and there’s a little bit of instability around that, it creates a big problem. I got it at United.

“Chelsea are probably close to the top five if they can just make a run because they have some really talented young players. Their age is much better than the Manchester United team.”

McTominay came on in the 87th minute on Saturday, before scoring twice in a row. Also coming through Man Utd’s academy, Neville defended the 26-year-old after criticism online.

“I was happy for Scott McTominay,” he added. “What I’ve seen on social media over the last few weeks is when it’s classic for a club to collapse when your fans and the media start to question the work ethic of a child who went through the academy.

“Sorry, I don’t have that. He’s a kid who’s going to go through a brick wall for the club. It’s the weight on his shoulders, the pressure and the feeling of not having the full support of the club to being able to actually carry your legs down.

“I talked about heavy legs in a young player, last season with Arsenal in a title race we saw it.

“What we’ve seen from Scott McTominay in recent weeks has been outstanding for Scotland, then he comes back to play on the right against Brighton and it looks like his legs are gone.

“All of a sudden you see clips on social media of him not coming back. I wouldn’t see it as anything other than pressure and carrying the world on his shoulders after being a kid from Manchester United since the age of five.

“Saturday was a big moment for him and I was happy for some players who came back because they were beaten and that’s what happens when you have a club that fails. You end up not knowing who is the good guys and the bad guys. You end up denouncing the ones who have been there for a long time.

“They’ve got good guys who have come and bought into the club. They’ve got good guys who have come through the ranks.

“The big question mark at the moment is the stability at the club and it’s not there.”