Manchester United must win every game to have shot at Premier League title, says Nemanja Matic

Manchester United have to win "almost every game" to stand a chance of overhauling Manchester City's commanding lead at the top of the Premier League table, Red Devils midfielder Nemanja Matic has said.

United are 14 points behind their city rivals heading into their clash against West Brom at the Hawthorns on 17 December, although they have played one game less.

Jose Mourinho's side were beaten 2-1 by City in the first Manchester derby of the season last weekend at Old Trafford, dealing a severe blow to their hopes of winning their first league title in five years.

However, Matic insisted that the title race was by no means over despite City's healthy lead at the top of the table.

"The gap is big, obviously 11 points is a lot, but the league is not finished," the midfielder told Sky Sports. "I'm sure there will be very interesting games until the end, and of course that they will drop some points. We will see what will happen.

"As I say there are still many games to play and I think that we are not out of the title race. If we want to catch them, we have to win almost every game.

"But as we know, and as everyone knows, in the Premier League it is not always possible to win every game, but we will try to do that," the Serbia international continued.

"Obviously we are still in the title race. We also have the cups, we are in the knockout stages of the Champions League, so Manchester United is going game by game to be in there."

Matic said United had missed the quality of Paul Pogba in recent matches, with the Frenchman currently serving a three-game suspension for being sent-off against Arsenal earlier this month.

"When he comes back, for sure we are going to be stronger because as you know he has a lot of quality and he is very important to the club," he said.