Gary Neville insists it is “inevitable” Manchester United will win titles again

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Gary Neville believes defying the odds to win the FA Cup at the end of a miserable campaign could spark Manchester United’s rise back to the top.

The absence-hit Red Devils languish in eighth place after Monday’s 4-0 humiliation at Crystal Palace and are three games away from recording their lowest finish and points tally in the Premier League era.

United’s poor performances and results have increased the pressure on under-fire manager Erik ten Hag and increased the importance of the FA Cup final against neighbors Manchester City.

Big changes are afoot, whatever happens at Wembley, as Ineos look to take the Old Trafford outfit back to the top, but former captain Neville believes the clash on May 25 could be the catalyst for a brighter future.

“As soon as the sun comes up, Manchester United will start winning again,” he told the PA news agency. “It is a fact.

“When that will be, I don’t know. There can be no guarantee, but I know these things go in cycles.

“I lived my whole childhood watching Liverpool, Everton and Arsenal winning trophies, winning the old Division One and I was patient.

“I had to wait until I was 18, 19 when Manchester United won a league title for the first time in my life – then I won a lot of league titles and now I haven’t won one for 10 years.

“I know very well that in my lifetime – I hope – Manchester United will win trophies, but they will win trophies again. We’ll get it right, as Liverpool will, as Arsenal will.

“You can’t keep these great clubs down. I’m sorry, they’re too big, they’re too established, they have a great history, they go through lean times.

“Look, hopefully in three, four weeks, this FA Cup final against Manchester City, which is such a tough game, we know how good City are, but if they can defy the odds, who knows where it could go.

“You know, in 1989-90 Sir Alex Ferguson won an FA Cup which put faith in him, in a group of players.

“Then they went on to win a Cup Winners’ Cup, then they went on to win the League Cup, then they went on to finally win a league title.

“It’s been block by block, step by step and that could be just around the corner, or it could be a few years away, but they’re going to beat Manchester United again. It’s inevitable.”

The FA Cup final is a repeat of last year’s show, which City won 2-1 before lifting the Champions League and joining United as the only English teams in history to win the treble.

The rivals meet a day before the 25th anniversary of Ferguson’s side achieving the ground-breaking feat, which is being celebrated in a new Prime Video documentary series launching next Friday.

Neville was among United’s treble heroes at the world premiere of ’99’ in Manchester on Thursday night and enjoyed reminiscing about their historic season.

“I remember saying to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer that night ‘you don’t know what you’ve just done,'” he said.

“Honestly, it hit me the moment the goal went in. I lay on the floor and looked up because I was a United fan. I knew what I had done was monumental.

“Not just to get the treble, just actually winning the Champions League, so it’s great to look back on that.

“Obviously we want to achieve things in our post-football careers, but nostalgia is good every now and then and I think this was the right time to do it.

“This is the last time this story can be told, I believe, by the group of players who took part in it.”