Former United midfielder Scholes said in his role as a BT Sport pundit that "the future is great" under manager Jose Mourinho, whose team have now strung together eight wins in a row in all competitions after Saturday's FA Cup success over Reading.

Although United are still sixth in the table after their disappointing start to the season, they have cut the gap and are now five points behind second-placed Liverpool and 10 points adrift of leaders Chelsea.

Scholes said: "The manager had a big job on his hands here to try to rebuild confidence in this team and it took him a little bit of time -- and he has probably done it ahead of schedule really. But now they look like a really good team. They've got the confidence back.

"He added some real quality in Zlatan [Ibrahimovic] and [Paul] Pogba and [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan, who looks like he is starting to be a Man United player now, so I think the future is great.

"It's a big game against Liverpool. I think, if United win that, they could be back in the championship race."