United’s Solskjaer happy to delay Man City title party

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was delighted after a comeback 3-1 win at Aston Villa mathematically kept his side in the title race while it also secured a topfour finish in the Premier League.

Defeat would have handed leaders Manchester City the title despite their 2-1 home loss to Chelsea on Saturday but United erased a 1-0 first-half deficit as Bruno Fernandes, Mason Greenwood and Edinson Cavani struck after the break.

Still, Solskjaer was realistic in assessing the result most likely only delayed the inevitable, with leaders City 10 points ahead of United.

City have 80 points with three games left while United have 70 and a game in hand, meaning only a monumental

At least we don’t travel back to a party on the blue side tonight

collapse by Pep Guardiola ’ s side could open the door if United won all their matches.

“That would be the biggest upset in football history but at least we don’t travel back to a party on the blue side tonight,” Solskjaer said.

“We’ll try to delay it as long as we can,” he added in a postmatch interview.

United could put some more pressure on City if they beat visiting Leicester City on Tuesday and Liverpool on Thursday before City travel to Newcastle United on Friday.

Winning the Europa League will be a more realistic target for United as they take on Spanish rivals Villarreal in the final on May 26 in Gdansk, although they suffered a blow as captain Harry Maguire was injured against Villa.