Title dream spurs us on says Ander
ANDER HERRERA has warned Tottenham that Manchester United are aiming to make a statement of their Premier League title credentials at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Herrera sees the lunchtime battle with Mauricio Pochettino’s in-form Spurs as one of the key games of the campaign and believes victory would give United a huge lift for the rest of the season. United’s goalless bore draw at Liverpool and shock defeat by Huddersfield have left Jose Mourinho’s men with a five-point gap to make up on leaders Manchester City.
If they lost to Spurs and then to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in their following league game, that gap could stretch to 11 points before the next international break next month. United midfielder Herrera said: “Tottenham are a direct rival every season. In the last two or three years they’ve improved a lot and they’re contenders for everything – the Champions League, the Premier League and both cups.
“We saw the game they played with Real Madrid last week and they were no worse than them, so they’re ready for anything.
“It would be a big statement if we beat them.”
Herrera weighed up the opposition. “Spurs are very organised, they play really good football and they have players who can score – Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli, Son Heung-Min. Even their full-backs are very offensive.
“It’s going to be very, very difficult but we play at home in front of our fans and we have to try to win. We want to move forward because this club is all about fighting for everything and we’re still in four competitions.
“It’s a massive game and our fans have to realise we need them on Saturday.
“We need them to push us to try to win the game because Tottenham are a top team.
“It will be very tough but we have to try to win, first, because Spurs are a direct rival for the title and, secondly, because we play at home.”
Herrera admitted it had been important that United returned to winning ways this week by beating Swansea in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday following the lacklustre setback at Huddersfield.
He stood by his honest criticism of his team’s performance against the promoted Terriers – a display that was questioned by United legend Ryan Giggs.
“In the first 30 minutes Huddersfield had a better attitude,” admitted Herrera.
“That’s what I said at the time and that’s what happened. You can’t play every game at your best and you can’t always win 4-0.
“After that defeat we needed the good feelings back.
“When you lose a game you want to play as quickly as possible – and play well – and we did that against Swansea. We played with composure and the kids were brilliant.”
United expect to be boosted by the return of Eric Bailly and Phil Jones against Spurs.
JUVENTUS have been cleared of any wrongdoing over Paul Pogba’s £89million move to Manchester United. FIFA probed claims Juve’s arrangement with agent Mino Raiola could have breached third-party ownership rules.