Can Manchester United win the title?

Wayne Rooney thinks his side can still win the title

No. Oh apparently we are serious on this. Alex Johnson looks at whether Manchester United are still in the mix for the big trophy.

Manchester United, the juggernaught that hit the skids for a season under David Moyes, are heading in the right direction again.

There is a growing feeling that they could even fight for this season's Premier League title, having been mostly written off after a poor start to the campaign.

Louis van Gaal's arrival and 152million spent on signings over the summer suggested their American owners were finally putting prestige before profits yet, despite an easy-looking run of early fixtures, United remained a soft target for the first months of the season.

Now, after a six-game winning streak and arguably their most convincing performance against a notable opponent last Sunday at home to Liverpool, they look in good shape for a title tilt.

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The noises coming out of Old Trafford are positive - players are talking about going for the title again, although acknowledging that they must play better to convince outsiders and put pressure on their rivals.

To stay within eight points of runaway leaders Chelsea and five of champions Manchester City, given United have suffered a total of 47 separately documented injuries since pre-season, is some effort - but they need to find a couple of extra gears now in order to fully involve themselves in a three-way fight to the finishing line.

Van Gaal's tactics and in-game decisions have largely paid off and, despite the many doubts about operating with a back three at the start of the campaign, United earned their recent wins over Arsenal, Southampton and Liverpool by persevering with that system.

They also owed a lot to goalkeeper David De Gea - sure-fire contender for the PFA Player of the Year award.

Similarly, Robin van Persie's recent performances underline how much self-esteem the squad have regained of late and the 3-0 victory over Liverpool, a result achieved without any of last summer's signings, could be a springboard to greater success.

Wayne Rooney says Van Gaal had "an aura" about him that helped the team through the rough start to the season when United posted their lowest points total since 1986/87 from the opening ten games.

He told the Independent: "When things weren't going great for us earlier on in the season, he knew what he was doing, he knew the form would come back and that we would win games. There was no panic. He stayed calm because he has been through it all before."

He certainly has - and history suggests Van Gaal has a happy knack of producing his teams with a strong finish. After 13 matches of his first season at Bayern Munich in 2009, they had won just five matches and his team were seventh towards the end of November. They also failed to win their first three Champions League group stage matches but, by May, Bayern had discovered their form, winning the Bundesliga and reaching the Champions League final, before losing to Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan.

Fans of AZ Alkmaar and Barcelona can recount similar stories from title-winning seasons of 2008/9 and 1998/99.

Rooney has even begun some mild psychological warfare with Chelsea by noting they "haven't played great sicn/a but have nicked a win as well" when he has seen them this season.

Flourishing in the captain's role bestowed on him by Van Gaal, Rooney admits United put in some ropey performances when they won the title at a canter two years ago.

"I think we have to believe we can win the title," he added. "We have been here before but we have a lot of new players and this is where the experience of myself, Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher can rub off on the other players."

Manchester United believe in themselves again.