Manchester City’s first Premier League title victory saw them beat their close rivals Manchester United to the finish line.
Back in the 2011/12 season, City came from behind to beat Queens Park Rangers 3-2 with two injury-time goals on a very dramatic final day of the campaign to crown themselves Premier League champions.
Since the Red Devils won the following title in the 2012/13 season, they have finished behind the Blues, who have won seven league trophies since then, in every single campaign.
This time around, United currently find themselves nine points and 12 placed behind Pep Guardiola’s side in the league table.
With seven matches played, Erik ten Hag’s side have won two, drawn two and lost three, scoring five goals and conceding eight along the way.
In comparison, City have won five and drawn two of their seven league games, bagging 17 goals and also conceding eight.
Now though, with the latest international break underway, one pundit and former United star has shared his thoughts on what sort of shape the Red Devils are in now and how they compare to their Manchester rivals.
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Paul Scholes makes Man United claim involving Man City
After seeing United draw 0-0 against Aston Villa in their previous league match, Paul Scholes had this to say in a recent video uploaded on the Optus Sport TikTok channel.
He said: “We don’t see improvement, I think that’s the problem. I don’t think areas of the pitch have been addressed which should have been.
“When I look at the squad of players as a whole and the money that’s been spent, I’m not looking at that and thinking in two or three years is this going to be a massive improvement, going to get better, going to be up there challenging the league?
“It feels like it’s getting worse.
“When Liverpool won the league, when Manchester City won the league, when Arsenal are looking like they could win the league, you felt them coming. You knew they were getting better two or three years before it was happening.
“It doesn’t feel like that to me. I don’t think we’re anywhere even close to that. I don’t even want to mention the league title because it’s not even close.
“Fourth, is fourth even a realistic target? I don’t think it is at the minute.”
Where did City finish before they won the league title?
In the three seasons prior to their historic title win back in the 2011/12 season, they came 10th, then fifth, then third before finally hitting the top spot under Roberto Mancini.
This highlights the gradual rise and improvement they went on as Scholes mentioned.
With United finishing in third place in the 2022/23 season and then going on to come eighth by the end of their previous campaign, this makes it easy to see why Scholes thinks his former side are not on the same trajectory City were on when they first became league champions over a decade ago.
In terms of this current title race, Gary Lineker said that City are one of the clubs that could win the Premier League but also that they could find it difficult to do so again once Guardiola leaves.
However, as Scholes also mentioned, it doesn’t seem like winning the title is something that United will be concerning themselves with once again.
