David de Gea: 'I'm probably in the best shape of my career'

Louis van Gaal's side were beaten 2-1 at Bournemouth on Saturday to compound a dreadful run that has also seen them crash out of the Champions League at the hands of Wolfsburg.

But goalkeeper De Gea, who says he is in the best physical condition of his career, is still focused on fighting Manchester City and Arsenal for the league crown ahead of the hectic festive period.

This season has already proven to be unpredictable, with pre-season relegation-favourites Leicester City leading the Premier League table after 16 games.

And De Gea, who won his only domestic title with United in 2012–13, is predicting plenty more twists and turns yet.

'It’s a real battle,' the Spaniard said. 'This league is very tough to win and there will be a number of teams who will be in the shake-up for the title.

'We know that the month of December is always a tough one with a lot of fixtures, and the tiredness can build up, so we need to come out of it at the end with a few good results.

'We’re training hard and we’re preparing well so we can go into those games at our highest level of fitness in order to get through December well-placed near the top of the league.'

United are sitting fourth having won none of their games this month and with meetings with Norwich, Stoke City and Chelsea to come before the turn of the year

De Gea was embarrassingly beaten direct from a corner for Junior Stanislas' opener at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday, but the stopper says he is ready to reach his peak after reaching this point of the season in great physical shape.

Van Gaal did not select his No 1 keeper until early September with talk of a move to Real Madrid that fell through deemed too disruptive - and that may well have helped him to reach this point in such good nick.

'I feel really good right now,' he told United Review. 'I’m probably in the best physical shape of my career. Let’s hope that there is still a lot ahead of me to achieve and that I can continue to improve in order to reach my highest possible level of performance.'

(dailymail.co.uk)