Neville Lauds Victory

Phil Neville has described Sunday’s 1-0 triumph over Arsenal as a “small stepping stone” towards United’s long-term goal of retaining the title.

Robin van Persie’s 27th minute header decided the match at Old Trafford and saw the champions cut the deficit on the leaders to five points. Victory was also supplemented by Manchester City and Chelsea both dropping points over the weekend.

As a result, the Reds are beginning to build momentum ahead of the busy winter schedule and Neville, who won six Premier League titles during his United playing career, is content that things are moving in the right direction.

Via Twitter, he said: “These games against the top teams are always tight, cagey affairs but I thought we defended really well. We created the best chances in the game. These games are decided mainly by set pieces. It was a great ball by Wayne and a fantastic header by Robin to score the winning goal.

“We had chances in the second half to maybe score two or three more goals. It was a good victory and a small stepping stone towards where we want to be, which is top of the league. If we can go into the January/February period within touching distance I think we'll be in a great direction.

“We're headed in the right direction. We can maybe relax a little bit this week and get ready for the Cardiff game, which is in a couple of weeks.”