‘Team to beat’ – Steve Bruce names Premier League title favourites

Steve Bruce has played down Manchester United’s Premier League title hopes and picked out reigning champions Arsenal as the ‘team to beat’ this coming season.

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal cantered to the title with a game to spare last term, holding off nearest rivals Manchester City to end the club’s painful 22-year wait for top-flight glory.

Having finished with an imperious seven-point advantage at the summit, the Gunners will hope to carry that same form into the new campaign, which starts at home to Premier League new boys Coventry in a week’s time.

First, though, the north Londoners will look to build some confidence in what promises to be an intriguing Community Shield showdown against Enzo Maresca’s City at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on Sunday.

For Bruce’s former club United, the season gets up and running away to newly promoted Hull City – the team he managed from 2012 to 2016 – on August 22.

A dramatic end-of-season resurgence under Michael Carrick has Bruce feeling positive about the year ahead at Old Trafford, with the club competing in the Champions League again for the first time since 2023/24.

Earlier this week, ex-United and England goalkeeper Ben Foster put his neck on the line by tipping the Red Devils for the title while featuring as a guest on talkSPORT.

When asked for his thoughts on Foster’s bold prediction, though, Bruce replied: ‘I think that’s too much too soon. I’d love to say he was right!

‘But I still think Arsenal are the one to beat and they’ve just strengthened as well with Bruno Guimaraes alongside Declan Rice. And I still believe there’s one or two coming into Arsenal.

‘They’re still the one to beat. They won it at a canter in the end, didn’t they? So they’re the ones to beat.

‘Look, Manchester United have made huge strides. I would think getting in the Champions League would be a success for Michael Carrick. But for United to go on and win it? I’m not sure they’re quite ready yet.’

Bruce has been hugely impressed with the work Carrick has done in ‘simplifying’ the task at hand at United, with the club rising from seventh – when he took over – to finish third in the table last season.

‘He’s come in and steadied the ship in his own way,’ Bruce – who won three Premier League titles with United – went on.

‘He’s put his stamp on them and he’s played in a certain way which is very simple.

‘It looks as if he’s simplified it whereas before it always looked so complicated.

‘I’m never going to criticise a head coach of anybody because I know how difficult it is, but the last manager [Ruben Amorim] seemed to be just obsessed with the way he wanted to play and it wasn’t working.

‘He [Amorim] seemed reluctant to change what he wanted to do which is fair enough, but certainly Michael has come in, played a back four and been very simple in what he’s done, but the players have responded to it.’

According to Bruce, the added workload that comes with qualifying for the Champions League means this season will be a ‘different kettle of fish’ for Carrick and his team compared to the last.

‘A foray into Europe would be fantastic,’ he continued.

‘The big thing Michael had in his advantage last year was that Manchester United were knocked out of the FA Cup and League Cup very quickly and they didn’t have Europe, so they played 40 games last year.

‘To be successful you’re going to have to play 60-odd games so there is a different, different kettle of fish.

‘Have they got the squad and depth? Let’s hope so. Whether they can get into Europe would, for me, be the big challenge.

‘Ultimately, if you’re the Manchester United manager, you’ve got to be pushing to win the league eventually and hopefully they’re clamouring to give Michael a new deal after a couple of years.’

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