Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has told his Manchester United stars to “dominate” their crucial final Premier League match of the season at Leicester City.
The United manager has taken his team to the brink of a place in next season’s Champions League, but defeat at the King Power Stadium on Sunday could be fatal to their chances of qualifying through the domestic competition.
A draw is all that United require to make sure of a top-four finish, and Solskjaer says his players should make sure Leicester, who sit fifth, do not seize the chance to leapfrog their visitors in the table.
Speaking in a news conference on Friday, Solskjaer said: “We’re looking forward to the game. We’ve given ourselves a good chance of being in the Champions League next year.
“We can’t go into a game thinking about what the outcome could be. We just have to go and perform, and perform to a high enough level for us to get a result.
“We want to go there and dominate the game. We wanted to get to this position, having to go Leicester to need to beat them. We’re not going to change our approach. We want to go there to try to win the game.”
United sit third going into the game, level on points with fourth-placed Chelsea and just one point ahead of Leicester, whose form has dipped badly since the league re-started in June.
With the likes of Premier League top scorer Jamie Vardy in the Leicester ranks, United cannot afford to take their opposition lightly or make any mistakes, such as those that cost them against Chelsea in last Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final.
Solskjaer said: “When you play against quality teams and players, one lapse of concentration can hurt you.
“We’re going to go into it with a strong frame of mind and it’s not job done. We have one more game in this season and that’s just this season.”
United are unbeaten in their past 13 Premier League games, and Solskjaer added: “I’m delighted with the development.”
He promised his players would get “a few days off, definitely” after the Leicester game, before they resume their Europa League campaign in August.