United are on the right track

With six games still to play, it's quite pleasing Manchester United have already managed to beat every other team in the Premier League this season.

It is a feat that won't be earning any trophies or medals but, nonetheless, it is one that offers more optimism for next season and proves we have nothing to fear from our domestic rivals. We've emerged victorious against all of them, despite the plaudits that our chief rivals have been getting.

After the thrilling 3-2 win at Manchester City on Saturday, Jose Mourinho said: "We are not the team people think we are. We are not as bad as people think. I'm not as bad a manager as people think I am. The players are not as bad as people think they are."

There is nothing 'bad' in managing to achieve a win against each of the other 19 Premier League clubs and history shows this was never a given, even in our most successful of years under Sir Alex Ferguson.

The last time we managed it was in 2010/11, which will come as no surprise as we won every home game that campaign, bar one - a 2-2 draw against Sunday's opponents West Brom. A 2-1 triumph at The Hawthorns on New Year's Day, only our second three points on the road at that stage of the season, meant the Baggies were also defeated, with substitute Javier Hernandez scoring the winner.

Looking back at some of our vintage seasons and certain teams proved tough to beat, even for the best of Sir Alex's great sides. In the first edition of the Premier League, runners-up Aston Villa took four points off us as, more surprisingly, did Ipswich Town.

Arguably one of the clubs' finest-ever sides, the 1994 Double winners, came unstuck home and away to Chelsea with Gavin Peacock scoring the only goal on both occasions. At least we exacted our revenge in the FA Cup final with a 4-0 thumping, after Peacock had rattled the bar. Our second Double, two years later, came without a win over Liverpool, Aston Villa and Sheffield Wednesday in the league - although the Merseysiders were seen off at Wembley in the FA Cup final.

Of course, the greatest season in our history, 1998/99, was not always plain sailing either. Arsenal and Chelsea may have been beaten en route to another FA Cup triumph but not in the division. In the campaigns that followed, we won the title by 18 points in 1999/2000 and yet did not beat Wimbledon. A year later, with a third league crown in a row clinched as early as Easter, Chelsea and Liverpool remained undefeated against the Reds.

Even when conquering Europe again in 2007/08, and securing another title, Manchester City could at least say they did the double over us - which is not something a team previously being heralded as invincible can boast this time around.

So what does this all mean? There are no honours for beating everybody else, but maybe a bit of pride. And certainly the sense that United are very much on the right track.

The opinions expressed in this article are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Manchester United.