Evans: Let's End On A High

Jonny Evans wants Manchester United to finish the 2012/13 season on a high after the Barclays Premier League champions lost 1-0 to Chelsea on Sunday.

Having already sealed the championship crown last month, the Reds were perhaps guilty of lacking intensity at Old Trafford, where the Blues sealed a hard-fought victory via Juan Mata’s deflected finish off Phil Jones on 87 minutes.

Evans obviously felt down about the result, but the Northern Irishman is targeting a positive climax to the campaign via consecutive victories against Swansea and West Brom.

“We will lift the [Premier League] trophy next week against Swansea, which will be a big day for us and we want to win that game,” Jonny told MUTV after the match.

“It’s then the last game of the season against West Brom and we want to win that as well. We want to win every game and, going into these last two games, I’m sure the lads will be up for it and we want to make sure we put on a good performance for the fans.”

When asked why his United team-mates struggled to perform against Chelsea, Evans was at a loss to come up with an answer, simply stating his disappointment: “I don’t know; it’s hard to put my finger on why we weren’t up to our normal standards.

“We’ve had a hectic couple of weeks but Chelsea have been our rivals and we’re disappointed not to get three points against them. Maybe they had more intensity in their play because they are pushing for a Champions League spot, but it is hard to say. I think they deserved their victory in the end.

“We got into good crossing positions, especially in the first half, but we didn’t quite find our men in the box – maybe we should have got more men in the box. I think Chelsea set up to counter-attack us and they hit us on the break and we got away with it a few times.”

As for Mata’s winner, a finish which might go down as a own goal as a result of a slight deflection off Jones, Evans was on hand to take some blame, admitting his clearance could have been better.

“I had a bad clearance myself, they found a bit of space in midfield,” Jonny admitted. “They had quite a few men forward at that time and the ball has crept in past Anders, who had a very good game today. We don’t want to lose any game and the way we conceded the goal was disappointing.”