Manchester United defender Phil Jones has said the cynics and critics of the club’s preparedness to defend the title they won under Sir Alex Ferguson’s final era are desperate of witnessing the team’s failure following its poor start to the 2013/14 season.
The defending champions only collected 11 points from their opening eight games, which represents the Old Trafford outfit’s worst start in 24 years.
Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Arsenal came at a point when many have questioned the club’s credibility as genuine title contenders in an unpredictable season under a new boss.
“People want us to fail because we have won the league so many times- everyone hates the best clubs,” said the former Blackburn player who won his first league medal last year.
“It is as simple as that, and United won the league long before I was here. We enjoy that. We relish the test we get thrown at us every week.”
Former Arsenal player Robin van Persie again scored the winning goal on Sunday to help the ‘Red Devils’ reduce the league leaders’ point advantage over them to five.
The victory extended United’s unbeaten run to nine in all competition and it was their third consecutive victory in the league.
The 21-year-old defender insists United have shown it has what it takes to prove cynics wrong and can go all the way to finish the season strongly.
“It proves when people doubt us we are more than capable of standing up for ourselves and proving to people that is why we were champions last season.
“We weren’t champions for nothing. We thoroughly deserved all the points we got last season,” added Jones.
