The Red Devils currently trail Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea by two points, with the first two teams also having a game in hand on United, who have won just twice in their opening five games of the campaign.
Neville told the Daily Mirror: "The problem we've had in previous seasons was that we were too far behind and we need to make sure that we don't fall more than a couple of points behind the leaders.
"I don't expect us to go away to teams and lose. I expect us to be consistent like we were last year.
"It's inevitable that you'll lose games in the Premier League. You're not going to go the whole season unbeaten and it's very rare that happens.
"Losing one, two or three games is acceptable, but no more. I wouldn't expect United to lose eight, nine and ten games, if we do that we'll have underperformed.
"Liverpool will be strong and I'm sure Arsenal, ourselves and Chelsea will also be there. I'd imagine it will be the same four battling for the title again.
"At this stage of the season it is in our hands. We're playing the other big teams in the next few months and that will give us the chance to get closer to them."
