Michael Carrick Supports Man Utd's Ambitious Goal: Premier League Title in Two Years, Despite Last Season's 15th Place Finish

MICHAEL CARRICK has backed Manchester United’s target of a Premier League title triumph in two years.

The Red Devils earmarked 2028 as the target to end their title drought last season — before they endured their worst campaign in 51 years by finishing 15th in the table.

Michael Carrick has backed target of Man Utd title glory in two yearsCredit: Getty Man Utd have found consistency under Carrick and won 19 from 24 available pointsCredit: AFP

Sir Dave Brailsford — who has since scaled back his role at the club — unveiled the

With nine games remaining, they were in third spot before this weekend and on course for a return to the after a two-year gap.

Interim manager has won 19 out of a possible 24 points available since replacing Ruben Amorim.

51 points tally is already nine better than they managed all of last season.

It remains to be seen whether Carrick — who won five titles as a United midfielder — will remain in charge beyond this term.

But he insists the club is “hungry” to challenge for the league again, saying: “You’ve got to take it step by step.

“Certainly we want to keep improving and we want to keep moving up the table.

“At the moment, being around where we are, it’s an exciting time because we’ve got something to play for.

“We would love to be playing for something a little bit more, that little bit higher and really challenging for leagues.

“There’s no way you can just say it’s going to happen and assume it’s going to happen.

“There’s a lot of work that needs to go into that and a lot of things that need to be put in by the players to achieve that.”

The former Middlesbrough boss added: “It’s tough to win the Premier League and we understand that.

“Certainly we are definitely working towards it — we feel that’s where we want to be.

“We have been there in the past and we want to get there again, but it’s certainly not straightforward and I think we all understand that.

“But we are certainly ­hungry to do it.”

Coming fifth would likely secure Champions League qualification this season, despite all six English clubs failing to win their last-16 first legs in midweek.

United host on Sunday afternoon and the two clubs are level on points.

Villa reached the Champions League quarter-finals last ­season, but losing 2-0 to United on the final day meant they finished sixth behind on goal difference to miss the cut this term.

There is an outside chance that fifth would not be enough to get into the Champions League — but Carrick is not stressing the need to finish in the top four.

He added: “It’s literally game by game and trying to win.

“It sounds really obvious, but you can’t plan for if you finish fourth or fifth, really. You’re going to the next game, we’re all in on this game . . .  what do we need to do to try to win it?

“So it’s not in the mindset of what’s going to be enough. It’s what do we need to do next week? What do we need to do next Friday [at Bournemouth]? What do we need to build on that?

“And it’s not something you can plan for, really. That’s what I’m getting at and we just need everything we’ve got fully flat down on the floor when we approach each game. There’s no other way.

“It might change [the CL placings]. It might not. There needs to be quite a big swing for it to not be fifth, but ­ultimately that’s not something we can control.

“Ideally, we’d like to be fighting above that anyway.

“So, if we keep our heads up, be really positive and focus on the next game, focus on what we can achieve and try to move up the table, it’s a much better place to have that mindset for.”