David De Gea has paid tribute to a mean derby defensive display that he feels can be the foundation for a crack at the Premier League title for Manchester United.
A 0-0 Old Trafford stalemate against Pep Guardiola’s City side was only our third clean sheet of the Premier League campaign.
A 35th-minute stop from De Gea to deny the Blues' Riyad Mahrez a golden opportunity was a highlight of a stubborn stance from the Reds.
But if the Reds can pile up the shut-out stats at the back, our Spanish no.1 believes we can be in the shake-up to come in the fight for the 2020/21 league crown.
“I think, defensively, we were perfect tonight,”
De Gea told us after the game.
“They didn't create too many chances, maybe two or three big chances, but I think, against them, it was defensively a great game.
“So we need to be happy, of course, for the clean sheet but maybe it's not enough, you know. We played at home, we always want to win, especially against Man City, so I think we missed a big chance to beat them today.
“But against players like [Kevin] De Bruyne, [Raheem] Sterling, good players, you have to be focused for the 90 minutes. So we did it today, I think we showed our confidence in defence. I think the players played really good today.
“For me, the most important thing in the team is the defensive part so, today, we showed again that we can defend good.
“We can be very strong in the back four and I think, the whole team, we pressed really high,
“ he added. ”
So we made them make mistakes in the build-up. So I think it was a good game for us, a tight game, so the draw was fine.
“We looked very well, we looked strong.
“Now I think, this year, the Premier League is very open, many teams are fighting for the title. We have to dream, we have to believe that we can win the Premier League this year and go for it.
“It's a very strange season. To be honest, there are many teams fighting for the top place, so I think we need to be very focused every game and try to win the Premier League.”