Maguire: We'll give absolutely everything

The 29-year-old is hoping to get this vital spell off to a positive start against Liverpool on Tuesday evening, as Ralf Rangnick's side look to build on Saturday's 3-2 victory over Norwich City.

Maguire believes that while the Reds were pushed hard against the Canaries, the character United showed was a great positive to take from the game.

"It was an important win at the weekend against Norwich," he said. "It was a bit end-to-end and a little bit open for our liking, but we got there in the end.

"We stuck to it, even though we obviously conceded the two goals and they came back to equalise. We showed good spirit to go on and win the game and the three points was the most important thing at the weekend, not the performance."

United's victory over Norwich meant the Reds bounced back from a difficult fortnight that saw Rangnick's side draw at home to Leicester City before losing away to Everton.

Maguire revealed that United went into Saturday's clash with Dean Smith's side knowing that dropping points was not an option.

"I think, against Everton, we deserved something out of the game, particularly as we dominated it for large parts and conceded an unfortunate goal," he explained. "We knew, going into Norwich, that we had to win the game if we had any chance of reaching the top four. We’ve done that and now we’ve got big games coming up and we know we’ve got to play better in those games to get the three points."

United's trip to Anfield on Tuesday night is the first of three consecutive fixtures against sides currently in the Premier League top six (United play Arsenal and Chelsea next).

Looking ahead to this vital period, our captain said: "We’ve dropped too many points in the Premier League [this season] and not played well enough so we’re in this position because of ourselves. Now we’ve got to get out of it ourselves. To do that, we’ve got to perform well, give absolutely everything on the pitch and see where that takes us."

He added: "We need to take each game as it comes. We know how important the games are and that they’ll be decided on fine margins. We’ve got to make sure those margins are in our favour. Of course, they’re three big games and we’re going to take each one as it comes and make sure we perform to our best to enable us to have the opportunity to get three points."

Liverpool are yet to lose a Premier League game at home this season, but Maguire isn't daunted by this statistic ahead of tonight's fixture. 

"Obviously, it's a tough game," he said. "I think everyone knows how well they’re playing at the moment and where they are this season and what they’ve done this season. It’s a game in which we have to show belief and show confidence – we can take confidence from getting the three points at the weekend and we’ll go into this game giving everything we’ve got."

"As a team and a group, we need to show great belief and go there and do it for our fans."

United youngsters Hannibal and Alejandro Garnacho were named on the bench for Saturday's win over Norwich. With the FA Youth Cup final between the Reds' Under-18s and Nottingham Forest Under-18s set to place at Old Trafford next month, our captain shared his thoughts on the importance of nurturing young football players.

"The history and tradition of this club is giving young players opportunities to play, it’s done that ever since it’s been founded," he said. "It’s an amazing club for that and an amazing club for young players to be at.

"The youth team have done amazing to get to the Youth Cup final and some of those players have had the opportunity to come and train and impress with the first team and those boys have done that and they deserved their place on the bench at the weekend. I’m sure, if they keep working hard, then they’ll have big careers and they’ll get an opportunity on the pitch soon."