Can the Reds pick up six points?

Wednesday 24 May 2023 07:00

Manchester United have just two fixtures left until the end of the 2022/23 Premier League season, both at home.

Erik ten Hag's side need just one more point to secure qualification to next year's Champions League, with Newcastle United, Arsenal and Manchester City having already confirmed their respective spots in Europe's elite club competition.

With just Chelsea and Fulham to come before our campaign ends with an all-Manchester Emirates FA Cup final at Wembley, our final points tally was a hot topic on this week's episode of The Debate.

MUTV regulars Liam Bradford, Ben Thornley and Wes Brown were joined by The Athletic's Carl Anka and Samuel Luckhurst, from the Manchester Evening News, as the quintet discussed the Reds' upcoming clashes with the west London teams.
Can United finish the job? Video

Can United finish the job?

The Debate | Our panellists discuss the Reds' final two home games, Player of the Year and more...

''We just hope that the little run that he [Frank Lampard and Chelsea] has had recently continues on Thursday night," said former United winger Thornley. "As we want a performance like we have done all season at home, in front of our fans, before the game on Sunday [against Fulham] and also we don't want the qualification situation to be left until Sunday.

''We want to get it sorted and I don't see any reason why we can't do that on Thursday night.''

With Chelsea's local neighbours Fulham our final opponents of the league campaign, Marco Silva's side have enjoyed a strong season back in the top-flight and boast an impressive league double over Brighton & Hove Albion in the bank, with arguably their stand-out result a 2-1 win over Chelsea back in January.

Luckhurst was quizzed whether the Reds can put six points on the board to end our season, to stand us in good stead for the fast-approaching FA Cup final with Manchester City.

Can the Reds pick up six points?

 Article

The Debate panel analyse whether United can achieve maximum points in our final two league games.

''I think that's certainly possible, there are so many issues at Chelsea and it will be remiss of United not to exploit that,'' said Luckhurst, when asked if six points could be achieved.

''It's a game they need to get at least a point from but, again, they need to build momentum going up to the biggest game of the season. The squad is in pretty good shape, although they have [Lisandro] Martinez as a long-term absentee and [Donny] van de Beek has been out for a long time.

''It's quite a finished squad now and you feel like there is quite a solid core for Erik ten Hag to work with for a good period now, working up to that final next week.''

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