Ole Gunnar Solskjaer claims it could take Manchester United two years to catch Manchester City

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has tempered expectations at Manchester United by suggesting it could take two years for them to mount a title challenge.

United will break into the top four with victory at Fulham on Saturday, and the recent upturn — nine wins from 10 since Solskjaer took charge — has breathed new life into the club.

Jesse Lingard told Sportsmail this week they expect to challenge for the title next season, but his manager urged caution.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer claimed it could take Manchester United two years to catch their rivals

‘You have to catch up the other teams ahead of us, especially Manchester City and Liverpool, but now Tottenham,’ Solskjaer said. 

‘Tottenham are really in the running. It’s three teams who have been far ahead, but we’ve beaten Tottenham, so we know we’re capable of that. We need the consistency.

‘Two years is long enough, but also short enough, to say that we’ve got the possibility to make a big difference in our preparation, in everything.

‘Next year you always hope, of course. Molde were 11th in 2010, and in 2011 we won the league, so you can never say never.’

The United caretaker boss has urged caution despite a hugely encouraging start to his tenure

City boss Pep Guardiola refuses to discount United, who are 14 points behind them, from the current title race. Solskjaer ruled that out.

‘We have to move slowly,’ he added. ‘We’re too far behind this year, obviously. We are fifth at the moment, we’ve been sixth and it seemed we were never going to move away from that sixth position.

‘We’ve got the resources, the infrastructure and the history to move towards the top and that is the only way we should think about things.

‘We cannot just be happy and say, “Oh, we got three points against Leicester”, because we didn’t play particularly well.

‘The attitude has been, “We know we didn’t play well and we have to improve to get to where we are going”.

‘Focus on Fulham, that’s the character revealer. The so-called big games, no problem, they’ll look after themselves.’