Solskjaer convinced Man Utd 'have enough' to get job done against Leicester despite 'draining' season

Charlotte Duncker

Solskjaer convinced Man Utd 'have enough' to get job done against Leicester despite 'draining' season image

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is confident his Manchester United players have enough confidence and energy to beat Leicester City on Sunday to secure a Champions League spot.

One point is enough to confirm a top-four place but it won’t be a walk in the park for a United side who have looked tired in the last couple of weeks and have been held to draws by Southampton and West Ham.

The Red Devils were also beaten by Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final but despite their fatigue, Solskjaer believes his team has what it takes to ensure they return to the Champions League next season.

The Norwegian told reporters: "I think confidence levels have to be high, we've given ourselves a great chance going into last game. When the last game of the season is in front of you you expect players to have bruises, aches, tiredness... that’s natural for every player.

"Even though this season has been different it's still been a draining one for everyone. We have enough energy for 90 minutes, well more, because there will be injury time as well.

"We've got enough but having been so far behind with the restart we had to go for it, go for goals, go for points and it's been a great effort by everyone to get into this position with one game to go."

It's been some turnaround for a United side who began the campaign with their worst start to a season for 30 years and with many having ruled them out of top-four contention before Christmas.

Since the restart, however, they’ve gone unbeaten in the league and Champions League qualification is now in their hands. Solskjaer added: "Many, many factors, many reasons [have contributed to the turnaround], belief [being one of them]. 

"If you look at that game against Burnley we should have won that one, that's football and Premier League for you, you have to take your chances.

"I think the belief, the confidence, the change of atmosphere, Bruno [Fernandes] coming in has made a massive difference, we've got our best players fit and raring to go, it's been many different reasons for the upturn but it's been down to the work.

"They have trusted us, that they can, step by step, believe and trust in what we have said and the boys have worked really hard, the fitness levels and the mental robustness is so much better than last season."

While finishing third behind champions Liverpool and Manchester City would mark a relatively good campaign for United, Solskjaer is aware they haven’t secured that spot yet and has called for a strong performance from his team at the King Power Stadium.

He said: "One lapse of concentration can hurt you. We're going to go into it with a strong frame of mind - we have one more game this season, this is a journey for this team, this is one extra step on the journey.

"We've come a long way mentally, shown more robustness, resilience. We've lost the first goal in games, we've also shown the heights when everything's flowing, I'm delighted with how the development looks.

"We're looking forward to the game, given ourselves a good chance of Champions League next year but we can't go into it thinking about the outcome, we've just got to perform at a high enough level and get the result.

"We want to dominate the game and wanted to get into this position to go to Leicester and beat them. We want to go there and try and win the game."

Charlotte Duncker

Charlotte Duncker Photo

Charlotte Duncker is Goal's Manchester United correspondent covering the club home and away across all competitions. She joined Goal in March 2020 after three years at the Manchester Evening News covering both United and Manchester City.