Former Man Utd captain Neville analyses ‘strange’ beginning to Premier League

Just 38 seconds after the restart, Rooney bundled in his first Premier League goal in 999 minutes and Mata converted Ashley Young’s cross in the dying stages to round off the win.

Manchester United legend Gary Neville has described the start to the 2015/16 Premier League season as “one of the strangest” in recent memory.

Bastian Schweinsteiger – no stranger to topping tables in his time with Bayern Munich – tweeted the following, after making a substitute appearance in Saturday’s win. “At the moment it’s not settled down, the sea is still choppy”.

“Manchester City looked fantastic in the first four/five matches, but I don’t know what has happened to them“.

“I am proud, of course, ‘ Van Gaal said following the victory.’I said to the security guy: ‘You are now a security guy of a club that top of the league” and that makes a huge difference.

United are unbeaten in their last six home fixtures in Uefa competitions (five wins, one draw), including the 3-1 success against Club Brugge in August’s play-off round.

Not many Premier League observers will back them for the title, but one should not totally write off their chances.

City were expected by many to maintain their position at the top of the table this weekend, but they suffered a rather shock 4-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur earlier in the afternoon. “They are a good side, they have established themselves in the Premier League, it’s a tough ground to go and they have a good backing of fans”. I don’t think they will get there but I think they’ll be between seventh and ninth.

“They work really hard and are well organised”, said Neville.