Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has aimed a cheeky dug at Liverpool.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will welcome their arch-rivals Liverpool to Old Trafford ahead of the high voltage Premier League clash at Old Trafford on Sunday. Since the Norwegian has taken over Manchester United, very few things have been on the wrong side after taking over Jose Mourinho in December.
The last time when the Red Devils suffered a defeat in the domestic competition was away to Anfield. They have been blowing away teams for fun and are enjoying a fantastic ride under the Interim manager who has won 11 of the last 13 games.
The 45-year-old played under Manchester United’s most successful manager Sir Alex Ferguson for eleven years between 1996 and 2007. He famously scored the winner in the Champions League finals against Bayern Munich in 1999.
Solskjaer has faced plenty of fierce battles with Liverpool during his stint as a player at Manchester United. Even though he might hail from Kristiansund, the Norwegian knows the intense battle these two and that the game of this magnitude means a lot to the supporters.
Despite sitting below Liverpool in the league table, Solskjaer decided to take a cheeky dig at the Merseyside outfit ahead of the Sunday showdown.
“I have loads of Liverpool fans back home and it has been like every year is going to be their year. It has got to October and it’s ‘OK, next year’.” says Solskjaer.
However, Solskjaer says that it would be an exciting encounter as one club aims to win the Premier League title and another club has aspirations of finishing in top four to secure Champions League football for next term.
“Now they are in the race so now for them it is going to be an exciting finish to the league now they are in it,”
“That is none of our concern. We just have to concentrate on ourselves.”
Liverpool had a seven-point lead before they played Manchester City in the Premier League after the turn of New Year. Both the sides are equal on points as Pep Guardiola’s men have already played an extra game as they prepare to take on Chelsea in the League Cup final at Wembley.
Solskjaer believes that the visitors will head into this game with full of pressure in the hopes of regaining their three-point lead over the Citizens.
“It is difficult to win the league here. It is probably the toughest league to win and when you look at it there are only five or six teams that have won the Premier League. Leicester did it – which was a miracle – before that Blackburn did it, but then there was a few big clubs that have won it,”
“Of course they do feel that pressure. I think the supporters and players feel it, but, then again, we have not won it for a few years and so we want to get back to it. We need to make sure that we don’t end up just being happy to be among the top four.
“If you aim too low and reach your targets then that’s more dangerous than aiming too high and missing them.” said Solskjaer.
Solskjaer insists that they will be doing no favours to Manchester City, but whole Manchester will be supporting them.
“We are not thinking about doing anyone any favours, but I would think the whole of Manchester will be supporting us on Sunday,” he said.
“But we are just about doing ourselves a favour.”
