Ole Gunnar Solskjaer insists Man Utd will not give up in title fight
By Tom Gott
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has insisted that his side are prepared to fight to the end in the battle for the Premier League title.
The boss recently came under fire for admitting that United should not be considered as title contenders after the 3-3 draw with Everton, with many pundits and fans concerned by a possible lack of desire.
Solskjaer was again asked about his side's title hopes after Sunday's 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion, a result which left Manchester City seven points clear with a game in hand, but he changed his tune this time and insisted it's not over until it's over.
"No one will give it away this early," he told Sky Sports News. "This season is so unpredictable, life is so unpredictable, anything can happen and of course we're not going to settle for second.
"It's a compliment to the boys that we've gotten ourselves into the position we're in. We're the team closest [to Man City] and we should be challenging the team in front of us. We're not going to let them get away with it, but we need to win games to be in that position."
38 - Since his Premier League debut for Manchester United in February 2020, only Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski (both 44) have been directly involved in more goals in Europe's big-five leagues than Bruno Fernandes (38 - 22 goals, 16 assists). Special. pic.twitter.com/wHvp0FhUUH
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 14, 2021
Like Solskjaer, captain Harry Maguire also weighed in on United's title chances, although the centre-back was happy to go a step further and insist the Red Devils are still in a title race.
"Of course we are, we’ve got to look after ourselves, we’ve got to go again and win the next one and then the next one," he said. "Obviously, Manchester City are on a great run at the moment, they’ve created a points gap. but we’ve got to look after ourselves we’ve got to fight, we’ve got to fight for every game.
"It’s disappointing today, we come here, we was in a good mood, good confidence, good preparation. We’ve had five days to prepare so that feels long in this season, so it’s disappointing because like I said, I think we did enough to win the game.
"We’ve got to take our chances, when you’re playing such a deep block chances don’t come, you’re never going to come here and create ten chances, ten clear-cut chances, when they come the big moments, we’ve got to take them and obviously going a goal behind we shot ourselves in the foot and it’s made it difficult for ourselves."
United's attentions turn next to a Europa League showdown with Real Sociedad, before they return to Premier League action three days later against Newcastle.