Ander Herrera has insisted Manchester United will “fight until the end ” to finish in the Premier League’s top-four, with the Spanish midfielder saying the club “should be every year in the Champions League”.
United’s 1-0 victory over Everton on Sunday moved them back into fifth and one place and one point behind Manchester City with seven matches to play. Louis van Gaal’s team have been unconvincing all season and travel to Tottenham next, but Herrera believes they can overhaul City – who they beat 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium before the international break –and claim the last Champions League qualifying place.
“Overall when you’re five in the table and want to be in the top four, you have to maintain this form,” Herrera said. “It is not going to be easy because Man City also wants to be in the next Champions League tournament but we have to fight for it. I think we are ready to do it.
“Man United should be every year in the Champions League. I think the last 25 or 26 years, just one time we didn’t play Champions League, so we want to be there.
“We are Man United, we as players are obligated to fight until the end and I think we have the quality to be there. Man City has a bigger squad, very good players, but I think right now we can fight against them. We are just one point behind them and the last game we showed that we are a little bit better than them right now, in this moment. We beat them away in the Manchester derby so we can be optimistic.”
Sunday’s game at White Hart Lane is a daunting one for United given Tottenham have lost only two of their last 16 league fixtures in pursuit of what would be their first championship title since 1961.
Herrera is not overly concerned. “When we play against a top team, I am not so worried about our performance because we usually do quite well against top teams. The most difficult games for us or when I am a little bit more worried is when we’re not playing against top teams .
“We have to prepare very good for that game because we watched Tottenham’s game against Liverpool. I think they deserved to win, they controlled the second-half almost fully, so it is not going to be easy. But when we play against top teams I think we perform better.”
Reflecting on his own form, Herrera added: “I say always the same. I feel very lucky because I play in this club, I play in Man United. Of course I want to play every game but when I came here 20 months ago, more or less, I knew that it was not going to be easy. Man United have the possibility to sign top players so it was not going to be easy for me but I think when I play I try to do my best, I help the team.
“This season I have had two or three muscle problems, so they didn’t let me play consistently. But we have still hopefully 10 games to play if we are in the final of the FA Cup so I still have a lot to fight for, I still have a lot to show.”
