Nemanja Vidic has claimed he always knew that Manchester United would challenge for the title, even though he got ruled out for the season back in December.

“I always believed we would challenge for the title,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who is out. Manchester United never depend on one player. If you look at the past, players have left and fans have said how are we going to cope? But the manager is the best at replacing players and the team still win titles and trophies. That is why Manchester United are so special. We didn’t expect the young players would play so many games and have such influence on the team. This is a great plus for the club. Obviously we have had some injuries over the past year, which is another difficult thing we have gone through, but we have coped and been very competitive with Manchester City. Now we are at the top of the league and have a big chance to win it.”