Michael Carrick refuses to rule out Manchester United title tilt despite 13-point gap

Michael Carrick has refused to rule out Manchester United catching Arsenal and challenging for the title, though the interim manager admitted a lot of wins would be needed.

United recorded a sixth victory under Carrick when defeating Crystal Palace 2-1 at Old Trafford on Sunday, making it 19 points from 21 since he took over. Their form is the best in the Premier League over that period but United trail Arsenal by 13 points with a game in hand and have 10 matches to play. Carrick was asked before United’s game at Newcastle on Wednesday whether he would rule out catching Mikel Arteta’s team.

“You can’t rule anything out in football,” he said, “but we’ve got to be realistic and know where it’s at. I think we’ve just got to try and keep winning games and see. Above us now there’s two fantastic teams. There’s some really good teams around us. We’ve had a good run, we’re certainly not getting carried away. You’ve got to be patient but you’ve got to be living in the moment a little bit, certainly, take the confidence. Wherever that’s going to take us, we’ll just have to see. But we’ll keep pushing.”

Carrick won five championships under Sir Alex Ferguson as a United midfielder. It was put to him that the Scot’s fierce competitiveness could offer inspiration that the title can be claimed. “[I am] definitely ‘a glass is half full’ on what you can achieve more than the negative side,” ­Carrick said.

“Of course, I’m being realistic about it – we have to win a lot of football matches for that to happen.

“So we’ll do what we’ve been doing and go one at a time. We’ve got one more now and then we’ve got a little bit of a break before [Aston] Villa so we’ll go and give it everything on Wednesday night.”

Carrick, who is contracted until the end of the season, was asked whether he accepted there was a greater chance the permanent role will be offered if the team continue to be successful. “There’s not really an awful lot I can say about it, to be honest,” he said. “I love being here. I love doing what I’m doing. I’ve said it from the start: I’m not making any decisions for short-term or quick fixes.

“I think it’s the responsibility, however long I’m here, to make decisions that are the best for the football club in the long term. Of course, winning games helps and the boys are doing great with that. We’ll just have to see where it ends up.”

Newcastle are 15 points behind and have lost their past three home league games, but Carrick said: “It’s a challenging place to play. When they’re in full flow and the supporters are there, it’s a tough place so we’ve got to be ready for that.”

Lisandro Martínez and Mason Mount remain injured. Harry Magure and Luke Shaw face fitness tests after going off against Palace feeling unwell.