United have no margin for error, says Lingard
JESSE Lingard admits Manchester United may have to win every game to beat cross-city rivals City to the Premier League title.
The England forward conceded they can’t afford to slip up with Jose Mourinho’s men 11 points behind the leaders.
Lingard scored in Sunday’s 2-1 win at West Brom to close the gap, but believes second-placed United are likely to need a 100 percent record for there st of the campaign to win the title.
He said: “Probably, but we will take each game as it comes. We’ll see where we are at the end of the season. With the squad we have, we have to always believe. Some games we will play badly and win and sometimes we will play well and lose.
“Any other season we would be top with the points we have so as long as we keep winning, that’s the most important thing.”
Lingard has scored seven goals for United, his best return for the club, and now he is playing centrally with Romelu Lukaku, who also netted at The Hawthorns, he expects to get more.
He said: “I’m hungry for more goals and any way I can help the team and to win the game is the most important thing.
“Playing centrally, you get on the ball a lot more and you can make things happen more and you can play closer to the main striker and get bits off him.
“Playing further forward, you are going to get more goals and create chances, so to play there with Romelu we are getting that understanding now.”
Defeat left West Brom two points from safety and winless in their last 17 games and Oliver Burke said Alan Pardew has underlined the need to improve.
“He got it into our heads that where we are in the table, we need to know and we need to step it up,” he said.