Michael Carrick continued to be realistic about the rest of Manchester United's season, but did not rule out the chance of the Red Devils challenging for the Premier League title.

Carrick has enjoyed a dream start to life back in charge at Old Trafford, with the former United midfielder leading the club to third in the table with 10 games of their campaign left.

He has earned 23 points in nine top-flight games as United's manager (W7 D2 – including both spells), the majority of which have come since replacing Ruben Amorim back in January. 

Indeed, it is the joint-best start after nine games by any manager in the competition's history, alongside Ange Postecoglou (also 23 in first nine), with Newcastle United up next. 

United's hopes of a top-four finish were also boosted on Tuesday, with Liverpool losing late on to bottom club Wolves, while Chelsea and Aston Villa square off on Wednesday. 

The Opta supercomputer has given United a 66% chance of finishing in the top four, and with fifth place likely to be enough to secure Champions League football next season, that figure improves to 85.2%. 

Only Arsenal (83.7%) and Manchester City (16.3%) are considered the challengers for the title, but Carrick remained optimistic, despite his team being 13 points adrift of the leaders, telling reporters: "You can't rule anything out in football, but we've got to be realistic and know where it's at. 

"I think we've just got to try and keep winning games and see. Above us now there are two fantastic teams. There's some really good teams in and around us.

"We've had a good run, we're certainly not getting carried away.

"Of course, I'm being realistic about it. We have to win a lot of football matches for that to happen."

United's upturn in form has raised speculation about whether Carrick will be given the job permanently should he guide the Red Devils into the Champions League places. 

Carrick is among the favourites for the role, though Oliver Glasner, Julian Nagelsmann, Roberto De Zerbi and Gareth Southgate have all been linked with the vacancy. 

"It's going to be every week, isn't it, this?" Carrick laughed when asked for an update on the situation.

"There's no getting away from the situation, of course. There's not really an awful lot I can say about it to be honest.

"I love being here. I love doing what I'm doing. I've said it from the start: I'm not making any decisions for short-term or quick fixes.

"Winning games helps, and the boys are doing great with that.

"We'll just have to see where it ends up. There's not really much I can give you on top of that at the moment, really."