Nemanja Matic Manchester United 2018-19Getty Images

Matic: Man Utd ready for top-four fight

Nemanja Matic says that Manchester United will do their best to finish in the top four after reviving their campaign with a strong run of form.

The Red Devils looked to have been left behind after a poor start to the Premier League campaign under former manager Jose Mourinho, who was sacked following a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool.

However, since then, United have won seven on the spin in all competitions and are back to within three points of a top-four finish, with Chelsea's 2-0 defeat against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium closing the gap.

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And Matic insists his side are up for the fight to finish in the top four and earn Champions League football ahead of next season.

“In the Premier League, it’s always hard,” Matic said.

“We will try to give our best to reach the top four until the end of the season.

“The teams in front of us have quality and they will also try to play in the Champions League next season.

“But I’m sure that we have enough qualities to compete with them.

“We will give our best and we will try to make our supporters happy.”

Following United's 2-1 win over Brighton, caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reserved special praise for Matic's midfield partner Ander Herrera.

“Ander is a midfielder who is a bit different to Paul [Pogba] and to Nemanja [Matic] with their physical attributes. He runs and runs. He runs with the ball and plays it simple," Solskjaer said.

“He also makes some good runs into the box, although we let Paul do more of that job and Ashley [Young] maybe from the right-hand side, but I’ll never stop him making runs into the box and, hopefully, he’ll continue making them like he does.”

United face a trip to the Emirates next in the fourth round of the FA Cup, before hosting Burnley in the Premier League.

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