Nemanja Matic sends warning to top-four rivals
Nemanja Matic defiantly reminded Manchester United’s top-four rivals that the Reds' Champions League destiny is still in our hands.
Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side are in a hotly-contested three-way battle for the two remaining Champions League places for next season, with Chelsea and Leicester City.
United missed the chance to move up to third after conceding a late injury-time equaliser to Southampton, however Matic insists United cannot afford to let the disappointment derail our European hopes.
“We have to keep our head up, we have three games to go. The next one is Crystal Palace on Thursday, if we win the last three games we are in the Champions League,” the midfielder told MUTV.
“So we have to stay positive and keep working as we were until now. Everything is in our hands. It's in our hands, we have to recover as soon as possible.
“We have another game now, against a very good team again, so we have to go with everything because we want to play Champions League next season.
“I think we deserve that, so I want to say we work positively, recover well and we will see on Thursday if we are ready. I am sure the team is ready.
“Of course, three months ago it was not in our hands. We needed Chelsea and Leicester to drop points, which they did obviously. Now we are a point behind Chelsea and it's in our hands.
“We’ll take it game by game. We’ll think about Palace first, then if we do our job there, like we normally do.”
Chelsea, who are a point ahead of United and Leicester, play relegated Norwich City at Stamford Bridge tonight (Tuesday), while Leicester are at home to Sheffield United on the same night as United visit Palace.
We also have an FA Cup semi-final date at Wembley against Chelsea this coming Sunday, before the final two Premier League games at home to West Ham on 22 July and a potential nail-biting finale at Leicester on 26 July.
“The next two weeks are very important for us. We will give everything, we promise that we will give everything for this club to play Champions League, of course the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea, we will give our best to make our supporters proud,” added Nemanja.
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