‘Man U have momentum in race for Champions League spot’
ROY KEANE BACKS HIS OLD CLUB TO OVERHAUL LEICESTER OR CHELSEA
MANCHESTER United legend Roy Keane thinks his old side will catch Leicester City in fourth place as the race for the Champions League approaches its final turn, writes Richard Cusack.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side moved to within a point of City in fourth place on Thursday after a 3-0 win at Aston Villa.
United recorded a fifth straight win in all competitions and now sit only two points from Chelsea in third with four matches left to play.
In what could be a mouthwatering tie on the final day of the season, United will play City at the King Power Stadium.
Between now and then there are three matches and Keane thinks United have enough firepower to overtake one of City and Chelsea in the top four.
Bruno Fernandes, in particular, has impressed since he arrived from Sporting in January, while Paul Pogba has recovered from injury. Both scored against Villa.
“I think we’ve said it now for a few months,” Keane said on Sky
Sports. “Even before the lockdown, the momentum was getting back into the club.
“All of the new signings have seemed to have settled in.
“Paul’s back, Fernandes has been a huge boost for the club.
“What they have at the moment is a bit of momentum.
“Forget that Man City and Liverpool are ahead of them – there’s no getting away from that – but in terms of a few months ago, we would ask if they could hunt teams like Leicester down, who had a huge advantage.
“To me now, they look favourites to catch Leicester and Chelsea.
“The momentum is there at the club.
“They’ll still want to get their hands on a little bit of silverware.
“Everyone at the club should be pleased.
“They’ve got the momentum
back into the club, they just need to keep it up now.”
Momentum was also on the mind of Eddie Howe, manager of Bournemouth, who take on Leicester at the Vitality Stadium tomorrow.
Bournemouth remain in a perilous position with four games of the season remaining, filling the final relegation place and three points adrift of Watford above them.
But the Cherries ended a fivegame losing streak on Thursday by holding Tottenham to a goalless draw at home.
“We have to feed off every positive fibre of that performance,” Howe said.
“The physical effort, the heart and endeavour showed, and the quality we showed at times as well. That will give the players a huge lift, no doubt.
“We know that good performances in itself, even if it is an upturn on recent weeks, is not going to be enough. We need results.
“Yes, we want another good performance but we want to turn that building of momentum into goals and into wins.”
Bournemouth’s tough run-in also includes a home game with local rivals Southampton and trips to Manchester City and Everton.
But Howe, who will be without Adam Smith tomorrow after the full-back suffered a head injury against Tottenham, took encouragement from a first clean sheet in 17 league games.
“You have to believe you’re good enough to keep clean sheets,” Howe said.
“We haven’t kept enough of them this season and I think that was a huge step in the right direction.”