Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag thinks his side will qualify for the Champions League; Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp agrees. With nine points needed from their last four games -- three of them at Old Trafford -- United should finish in the Premier League's top four, but then they should have beaten relegation battlers West Ham United on Sunday and didn't.
The 1-0 defeat at the London Stadium has left Ten Hag and his players facing an anxious end to the season. Liverpool are a point behind, although they have played one game more. Crucially, though, Liverpool are on a run of six straight wins; United have won one of their past four.
Klopp says he still thinks United will do it, but after Liverpool's 1-0 win over Brentford on Saturday, he described the race as "interesting." Ten Hag's team -- missing key players, struggling to score and looking exhausted after a gruelling season -- are limping towards the finish line, and there's a growing fear among supporters that they've lost all their energy and momentum at the most inopportune time.
Champions League qualification, and the revenue it produces, is vital for the Old Trafford accountants, but it will also shape how Ten Hag's first season is viewed. A top-four finish, plus winning the Carabao Cup and reaching the FA Cup final, will make the Dutch manager's debut campaign an inarguable success given the mess he walked into a year ago. The mood around the club is on a knife edge, though, and the summer will look very different if United are pipped to fourth by Liverpool, Manchester City win the Treble and the ongoing battle for ownership ends with the Glazer family announcing that they're staying.
Winning the club's first trophy since 2017 was a significant moment for Ten Hag, but it tells you how important the Champions League is that qualifying has been his top priority since he arrived from Ajax. There's no suggestion that Ten Hag's future as manager is in jeopardy, but no United boss in the 10 years since Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement has remained in charge after missing out on the Champions League following a full season in charge.
