Louis Van Gaal insists United still in thick of title race; Chelsea clash will show if he's right

Victory at Chelsea on Sunday would put Manchester United back in Premier League title contention, manager Louis van Gaal said on Friday - despite the club once again being linked with a move for Jose Mourinho.

Yet such talk about Mourinho could yet prove ludicrously premature.

Fifth-placed United are 10 points behind leaders Leicester City with 14 games remaining and the Dutchman, buoyed by a 3-0 home victory over Stoke City, said his side should not be counted out.

United finally produced some much-needed swagger at Old Trafford to give Van Gaal breathing space as his future continues to be the subject of media speculation.

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"The competition is still not finished," Van Gaal told reporters on Friday.

"It is not finished for Manchester United and not for other teams," he added before an unsourced report surfaced in the Manchester Evening News saying the club had held talks with former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho's agents about the Portuguese replacing Van Gaal next season.

"I feel that if we beat Chelsea, and that is not simple, our league shall start again. That's important."

Van Gaal said he had good reason for optimism after the win over Stoke followed an FA Cup victory at Championship team Derby County.

"We have the feeling because we are winning two times in a row and with sparkling football, goals and clean sheets," he explained.

"This against opponents in great form. Stoke played Liverpool off the pitch in the League Cup, for example, even though they lost on penalties.

"We have to show it though, in a row of games that you win, because in this competition anything is possible."

Manchester United continue to be without a host of injured players although Van Gaal said there was now "some light at the end of the tunnel".

Phil Jones has returned to training and is in contention to play against champions Chelsea while long-term absentees Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia were "making progress".

Bastian Schweinsteiger is still out. The German midfielder has missed the last five games after suffering a knee injury against Sheffield United on January 9.

While Rojo, Shaw and Valencia probably won't return to have an impact on the season, Jones and Schweinsteiger could yet provide the team with the solid base that has been lacking. And if United remain injury-free from here on, they could yet pick up the pace in the title race.

This is pretty bullish stuff from Louis van Gaal and in stark contrast to the dejected, disillusioned figure he cut only a few weeks ago. This new-found optimism is easy to dismiss out of hand but there appears to be an increasing belief in and around the club that they have turned a corner and that their sluggish run of form has come to an end.

The problem, however, isn't the number of points that they trail by. It's the fact that they simply haven't been good enough, and appear to have stayed in the hunt (just about, anyway) by clinging on with their fingernails, while the likes of City and Arsenal have squandered points with often reckless abandon.

Yet there are signs that Untied might finally be: the last week has witnessed a spike in performance level from United (particularly in the win over Stoke) and given the highly unpredictable nature of the league this season, it is not completely out of the question that United could stage a late run at actually winning the league, or going very close at least.

And one United player, Jesse Lingard, suggested that a run might be on the cards, hinting that LVG has decided to abandon his dull strategy and just allowed the players to cut loose.

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If there is a new approach, however, it will be tested to the limit this weekend. Although Chelsea are in 13th position, Sunday’s fixture will offer a decent examination of United’s recent improvement. Under interim coach Guus Hiddink the Blues are beginning to show the mettle of champions so if United go to Stamford Bridge and turn them over, well, that would represent a pretty solid base on which to build on as the season enters its business end.