Young still sure Man United will finish in top four

Daniel Storey

Ashley Young admits Manchester United’s failure to put teams away at Old Trafford has undermined them this season.

United were 1-0 up against relegation strugglers Swansea on Sunday but had to settle for a point when Gylfi Sigurdsson equalised with a free-kick 11 minutes from time.

That was their 14th draw of the Premier League season and 10th at home, a record that has compromised their top-four push and left them trailing rivals Manchester City and Liverpool.

Young did not sugarcoat his reaction, accepting the unwanted trend had contributed to an underwhelming return.

“After 10 draws at home, you think about the points that we’ve lost and thrown away and where we could have been in the league,” Young told MUTV.

“A lot of people have been talking about fourth spot in the league but I thought we could go even higher than that. We’ve got a lot of tough games but as long as we’re prepared I’m sure we can go and get the points that we need.

“We’ll have to recover again for the next few days and then we’ve got that trip (to Vigo) to look forward to. It’s not ideal getting a few more injuries on top of the ones we’ve already got but we have to keep going.

“I think that’s all it’s been over the last month. You play a game, recover, and play another game. That’s exactly what will happen.

“We have plenty of incentive to get ourselves up for the Europa League semi-final and a chance to get to the final. If we can win that, we’ll get into the Champions League.”