Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admits Manchester United will have to be near-perfect to secure Champions League football next season.
A 2-1 defeat to Wolves on Tuesday night gave Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea the chance to capitalise in the race for a Premier League top four finish.
Solskjaer believes his side need to win at least five of their remaining six games to ensure they’re not consigned to the Europa League in his first full season in charge.
“I’ve said we needed 15 points in last seven games or 18 in the last eight,” he said. “We’ve got three against Watford so we need 15 in the last six. We don’t have [much] more room for losses.”
United face a daunting run-in with games against Manchester City and Chelsea at home, as well as Everton away.
But their manager added: “We are a very good team so it will be difficult for those who play against us and the performance (tonight) deserved a win.”
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Liverpool | 32 | 24 | 7 | 1 | 53 | 79 |
| 2 | Man City | 31 | 25 | 2 | 4 | 60 | 77 |
| 3 | Arsenal | 31 | 19 | 6 | 6 | 26 | 63 |
| 4 | Tottenham | 31 | 20 | 1 | 10 | 24 | 61 |
| 5 | Man Utd | 32 | 18 | 7 | 7 | 18 | 61 |
| 6 | Chelsea | 31 | 18 | 6 | 7 | 18 | 60 |
Scott McTominay gave United the lead after 13 minutes, but they paid the price for a host of wasted chances either side of half time.
Diogo Jota equalised for Wolves after a mistake from Fred – and when Ashley Young was sent off after the break, Chris Smalling handed Nuno Espirito Santo’s side victory with an own goal on 77 minutes.
It was United’s third defeat in four games since last month’s historic win against Paris Saint-Germain – but Solskjaer was quick to dismiss any suggestion of the bubble bursting on the dramatic revival he has overseen after taking over from the sacked Jose Mourinho in December.
Instead he believed the game should have been won with Romelu Lukaku, Jesse Lingard and McTominay all missing close-range headers.
“I don’t think [it’s] any kick-back or resetting,” he added. “I was pleased with the amount of chances and intent in the game, but you cannot stop players playing and trying and if there’s a mistake to be done that happens.
“That’s football for you, and that’s why it’s the great game we all love.
"It’s not like maths, some days you have the margins. Their keeper had a fantastic performance.
"Those three crosses from three yards in total probably should have all been goals normally - but their keeper was in a great position and had some fantastic saves. That’s just football.”
