Manchester United manager, Erik ten Hag has said that his team can still make up the eight points between them and Aston Villa to achieve a top-four finish in spite their shock home 2-1 loss to Fulham on Saturday.
Recall that Alex Iwobi scored deep in stoppage time as Fulham shocked Man United at Old Trafford.
Man United has not lost in their five last league games, but the optimism that has been growing around Old Trafford was dented by Iwobi’s 97th-minute goal.
“I said from January on we are (playing) finals, and we won many finals,” Ten Hag told reporters after the game.
“Now we lost one final.”
Man United are sixth on the table on 44 points after 26 games, while Aston Villa, who beat Nottingham Forest 4-2 on Saturday, have 52 points.
Ten Hag said the future remained positive, pointing out that the team has been hard-hit by injuries.
Striker, Rasmus Hojlund, who scored in Man United’s six previous league games, and defender Luke Shaw are the latest absentees.
“You have to see the bigger picture and the bigger picture looks very good,” Ten Hag said.
“We have to catch up in certain positions, get the injuries back, because then we will be more in balance.
“We are going in the right direction. And when we have the players of the squad available, we have a very good team.”
EPL: We’re going in right direction – Ten Hag rates Man Utd’s chances of finishing top-four
