Manchester United need two wins in a week against Watford and Arsenal to keep title race interesting

If Manchester City's eight-point lead widens before derby day, the title race may be over before it had a real chance to begin

Jose Mourinho's side have been unable to keep pace with Pep Guardiola's juggernaut (Getty)

Top-flight titles are rarely won in December, but then it is also rare for a team to look so assured of their destiny as the Premier League's current leaders do.

Already, thoughts in Manchester are beginning to turn to the forthcoming derby at Old Trafford a week on Saturday, and not only because the city’s two clubs have had to wait almost four months to meet each other.

After a weekend which saw Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool all drop points, Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United appear to be the only side capable of stopping Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, who in turn look like they could wipe the floor with just about every other side in the division.

Ironically, Sunday’s hard-fought win over a team that finished with a negative goal difference in the Championship last season only seemed to reinforce that point. After weeks of pummelling whoever walked into their path, City proved they could win the hard way against Huddersfield Town. Visits this week from two uninspiring Southampton and West Ham United outfits should prove much simpler.

United’s schedule, meanwhile, is not so straightforward and on Tuesday night they travel to Vicarage Road to face Marco Silva’s Watford - a side that may well be ‘the best of the rest’.

The Hornets have already held Liverpool and beaten Arsenal at home this season, and as Mourinho has noted, Silva has built a particularly potent attack. “They have an unusual squad for a mid-table team,” the United manager said on Saturday. “They have a squad full of very good players who are not normal to be in these mid-table teams.”

Watford are keeping pace with the notional ‘top six’ in terms of goalscoring, with one more to their name than last season’s runners-up Tottenham. Silva’s side have recorded more shots inside the penalty area than Chelsea and their expected goals total outranks that of the defending champions too.

Their downfall has been their defence, even with two consecutive clean sheets under their belt. A 1-0 reverse in front of their own fans against Stoke City a few weeks back stung badly and Mourinho will have noticed the 11 goals Watford have conceded at home - the joint-second highest total in the division.

Those figures are skewed somewhat though, as six of the 11 were scored in one game by a rampant City at their prolific best. Ironically, the most promising sign for United ahead of a challenging fixture is only a reminder of the levels Guardiola and his players are setting.

Perhaps a most reassuring fact for United comes from a few years back. After 13 games of the 2011/12 season, City had made a comparable start, with just two fewer points than they have now. If not for Raheem Sterling’s late winner at the John Smith’s Stadium on Sunday, the records of Roberto Mancini and Guardiola’s respective sides would be identical.

It has been six years since the two Manchester clubs last vied for the title (Getty)

Mancini’s undefeated team looked like title winners as that year’s winter set in too, yet they soon wobbled, dropping points at Stamford Bridge and the Hawthorns. A resurgent United were level with them by Boxing Day. In March, United sneaked ahead and if not for one of the most dramatic final days in English football’s history, Sir Alex Ferguson would have won his 13th Premier League title a year early.

This City side appears far less forgiving than Mancini’s title winners though and in any case, United have more ground to make up than they did six years ago.

Mourinho’s side need to take three points from their trip to Hertfordshire on Tuesday and they will need maximum returns again when they visit Arsenal at the Emirates on Saturday. If they fail to record two wins in a week, the reality is that by the time the derby comes around on 10 December, the title race may well have been run.