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News24 - Solskjaer admits top four rivals may benefit from Euro progress
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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer suggested Manchester United's top-four rivals may have an advantage by still being in European competitions.United's Champions League adventure was brought to an end by Barcelona in midweek but Tottenham progressed to the semi-finals, while Arsenal and Chelsea are in the last four of the Europa League.The four English teams are jockeying for third and fourth in the Premier League and a place in next season's Champions League, with only three points separating third-placed Spurs from United in sixth. Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelsea face a more crowded fixture list in the closing weeks of the campaign because of their European exertions, but United boss Solskjaer does not feel that will hinder them.'It will probably give them a boost playing those games, that's what you want as a player,' he said.'We would have loved a semi-final to play in but that's not the case. We've got to focus on the games we've got.' Season at a glance Live tables Fixtures Scores Premier League Premier League Championship League One League Two Scottish Premiership Scottish Div 1 Scottish Div 2 Scottish Div 3 Ligue 1 Serie A La Liga Bundesliga More tables More fixtures More scores United's 3-0 humbling at the Nou Camp - bowing out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage after a 4-0 aggregate defeat - was a fifth loss in their last seven matches in all competitions.They have been beaten in three of five since Solskjaer was announced as the permanent manager following a very impressive interim spell, in which he revived their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League next term.Despite their recent slump, Solskjaer insists there has not been a drop-off from his players.He said: 'I don't think so, that's football margins. Since I've come in we've lost two league games - against Wolves and Arsenal, those games we shouldn't have talked about losing.'Of course there are games where we won where we maybe didn't deserve to, it evens itself out.'Players now know what's going to happen, they know what I expect, we know as a club what we're looking to do.'Look at where we were when we came in on December 19 and where we're at now - I think anyone would have taken that in the squad and at the club. Now we've got five games to see if we can finish it off.' Man United fixtures All Premier League Sunday Everton (A)April 24 Manchester City (H)April 28 Chelsea (H)May 5 Huddersfield Town (A)May 12 Cardiff City (H) United's trip to Goodison Park to tackle Everton on Sunday kicks off a potentially pivotal eight-day period for United, who host the Manchester derby next Wednesday before welcoming Chelsea to Old Trafford.Alexis Sanchez and Nemanja Matic are in contention following recent spells on the sidelines while Ander Herrera is back in training ahead of the visit to Merseyside.Midfielder Jesse Lingard knows Everton - battling to finish seventh to claim a potential Europa League spot - will present a difficult challen
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