LONDON • Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes Manchester United may need to win all of their remaining Premier League fixtures to qualify for next season's Champions League.

Leicester's 1-1 draw at Arsenal on Tuesday means if the Red Devils can secure five victories on the trot, they will be guaranteed a top-four finish, especially as their last match is against the fourth-placed Foxes.

They are in fifth place, four points behind Brendan Rodgers' men (59) with a game in hand and Solskjaer wants his players to leave nothing to chance.

"You never know what is going to happen, but the teams around us are playing well," the United manager said at his virtual pre-match press conference yesterday ahead of today's trip to Aston Villa.

"We just focus on this one, the next one. If we win every single one of them, we are in the top four. We cannot rely on help from anyone else, we just have to do it ourselves."

The visitors will be the overwhelming favourites at Villa Park, buoyed by their 16-game unbeaten run in all competitions, and facing relegation-threatened opponents.

Villa are third-bottom in the table with 27 points, four adrift of safety, and have failed to win a Premier League game since January, taking just two points from their last nine matches.

In contrast, United are buzzing with confidence and are determined to prove their 2-2 draw in the reverse fixture at Old Trafford in December was a fluke.

Solskjaer added: "As a footballer, you know you can't just pick out your confidence from the fridge. You have to (get) it from what you do every day in training, but the results, they matter.

"The last 16 games unbeaten gives us more confidence, but 16 games is nowhere near where a Manchester United team should strive towards.

"We can still go many games unbeaten if we concentrate on the right things."

The form of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and 18-year-old Mason Greenwood has dampened talk of the need for a new striker at the club after Romelu Lukaku left for Inter Milan last summer.

Equally encouraging is the midfield partnership of Paul Pogba and January signing Bruno Fernandes, with United averaging a goal every 37 minutes when the pair are on the pitch together.

Solskjaer was asked whether he felt vindicated in the changes he had made, having endured plenty of criticism at that time for letting a proven target man go, alongside exits for Alexis Sanchez, Ander Herrera and Chris Smalling.

"This isn't a popularity contest, that's for sure," the Norwegian said. "I have to make decisions that I think are for the benefit of the club.

"The decisions we made last summer and in January, bringing players in, allowing players to move on. I think, in my mind, they were always for the good of the club and the team, both in terms of giving youngsters a chance but also in terms of giving trust to the other ones.

"So, for me, I would still make the same decisions if I could go back 12 months or six months."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS

ASTON VILLA V MAN UNITED

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