The more they try to close the gap the more it increases

Manchester United might have been battered by their local rivals at Etihad earlier in the season with Erling Haaland scoring a hattrick, but the Red Devils have bounced back from the mauling and used it to drive their way to fifth. They were six points behind City after their last win against West Ham in the Premier League.

But the point gap was further extended by their rivals to nine points after the 2-1 win against Fulham, with United yet to play. The Red Devils will be looking to close the game once more with a win at Villa Park to extend United's unbeaten run to 10 games across all competition. 

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United have close the gap in the top four positions to within two points of four-placed Newcastle United, whom they drew against just a couple of weeks back. Erik Ten Hag's side has already knocked Chelsea to seventh place and is seven points clear of Liverpool.

With the game against Aston Villa in sight, Ten Hag will be looking to the cast of Cristiano Ronaldo, Christian Eriksen, and Casemiro to help United get all three points on Sunday evening as they seek to clawback some more points in their rise on the table. A win will move them to four position, two points ahead of Newcastle.

CAN UNITED GO ALL THE WAY THIS SEASON WITH TEN HAG?

There are certainly some fans who believe that is very possible with their team quality but the majority would be okay with a top-four place and a few silverware to start the Ten Hag era. There's a renewed sense of optimism around Old Trafford and the fans are itching to see how far this new team will go under the manager.