Neville: Man Utd are the second-best team in the country

lost 3-1 to

last night in a FA Cup clash to be knocked out of the competition.

The Red Devils also had an amazing start to the Premier League season and managed to reach to top of the table but after a few weeks of weak performances, they dropped down and were replaced by long-time rivals,

.

However, former Man Utd star

Gary Neville

believes the Red Devils are still ‘the second-best team in the country’.

“I still think Man Utd are the second-best team in the country, it could be under threat, but I just feel United will have enough to get there in the end and I think at the end of this season, the purpose of Man Utd, I said it a few weeks ago, is to finish a good second, not a bad second,”

Neville told

.

“To finish below second would be a real disappointment, but the position they are in now is to finish as close to Manchester City as possible, it does matter how close you finish to them because it is played back at the end of the season – ‘oh you finished 16 points off them, 26 points off them...’ You have to try and get to within single figures so that you then think, ‘where could we make up those four points, those eight points?’”

“I am demoralized a little bit as a Manchester United fan as I thought that was a really good one to go for this season. Also, there comes a point when if you are going to catch Manchester City, you have to beat them in a big game in a big competition.

“Spurs have got that opportunity in a few weeks in a final and if Man City are to get to another final - they obviously still have to beat Chelsea - then Manchester United have to be there to stop them. You cannot rely on other teams to stop them and if you are the second-best team in the country, you have a half-decent record against City, which Ole Gunnar Solskjaer does, then you have to be there and be the ones to stop them.

“If you think about 1999, when Arsenal had won the double the year before, we were the only side who could stop them in the semi-final at Villa Park and we did stop them, it was hard work, but we stopped them.

“The same in the league, you can't rely on other teams to stop them for you, if you want to catch teams, you have to leave one on them, and I was disappointed with that against Leicester, I know Man Utd fans are, I've seen the reaction on social media.”

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