Erik ten Hag has insisted that Manchester United players are not thinking about a possible title race despite closing the gap on league leaders Arsenal.
United beat Leicester with a convincing 3-0 win to continue their good run but Ten Hag remained coy on talk of the title.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, the 53-year-old head coach stressed his side are taking it a game at a time.
‘We don’t think about the title race,’ Ten Hag said. ‘We think about the next game, Thursday is going to be a big game for us.
‘We have to fight, our fans [have] to make Old Trafford a fortress and the game plan has to be right.’
United are five points behind leaders Arsenal, and two adrift of second-placed Manchester City.
Ten Hag’s side have played a game more than the Gunners and are not back in Premier League action until the trip to Anfield to face Liverpool on March 5.
The United boss also admitted that his side’s performance in the victory over Leicester was far from perfect.
Ten Hag said: ‘We’re happy with the result, it’s a great result. When you play every third day you can’t always get to your same performance. Today was really tough.
‘We had problems and it was only because of David de Gea that we had a clean sheet at half-time.’
Leicester enjoyed a good spell in the first-half and went close to scoring through Harvey Barnes and Kelechi Iheanacho but De Gea was in fine form in the United goal.
‘First half Leicester played brilliant, we were rubbish, the way we were really undisciplined,’ Ten Hag said.
‘Luckily we had half-time, we could repair some things and the second half was brilliant. There was a lot of pleasure, it was enjoyable to watch how we created so many chances and scored great goals.’
Marcus Rashford scored twice for United to maintain his superb form this season. His second strike against the Foxes was his 24th goal in all competitions – already the highest tally he has recorded in a single campaign.
But Ten Hag felt that other players also deserved credit for good performances in the win.
Ten Hag said: ‘He [Rashford] is getting in the positions but don’t forget the team. I want to highlight Bruno again. Two great assists. There are so many players that can pass him the ball in the right moment like Bruno, Jadon, Fred.’
United have a crucial Europa League game, the Carabao Cup final and the FA Cup 5th round before they next return to Premier League action.
The Red Devils play Barcelona following their 2-2 draw in the Europa League play-off first-leg before heading to Wembley for the Carabao Cup final against Newcastle and then hosting West Ham in the FA Cup.
United then take on Liverpool in their next Premier League game.
SOURCE: dailymail.co.uk
