Herrera Ready To Fight For Top 4

Ander Herrera feels Manchester United belong in the Champions League and the tenacious midfielder insists the Reds will fight until the end for a place in next season's competition.

Louis van Gaal’s men are currently fifth in the Barclays Premier League and sit just one point behind fourth-placed Manchester City with seven intriguing matches left to play.

Herrera returned from a calf injury during Sunday’s important win over Everton at Old Trafford and the Spaniard was delighted to secure three points, given that City had already won at Bournemouth. It was also the Reds’ second successive 1-0 win following the derby success at the Etihad Stadium.

Maintaining the current momentum will be crucial with a testing trip to Tottenham Hotspur coming up on Sunday and Herrera says his team-mates are determined to finish the season strongly.

“Overall when you’re fifth in the table and want to be in the top four, you have to maintain this form,” Herrera told reporters. “It is not going to be easy because Man City also want to be in the next Champions League tournament, but we have to fight for it. I think we are ready to do it.

“Man United should be in the Champions League every year. I think in the last 25 or 26 years, there has been just one time when we didn't play Champions League, so we want to be there. We are Man United, we as players are obligated to fight until the end and I think we have the quality to be there.

“Man City has a bigger squad, with very good players, but I think right now we can fight against them. I've told you before we have recovered some important players for us. They are going to help us and there is a lot of experience like Antonio [Valencia] and Ash [Young]. I am optimistic.

“We are just one point behind them. They have to play against Newcastle away - Newcastle are playing to avoid relegation so it is going to be tough for them. I think in the last game we showed that we are a little bit better than them right now, in this moment. We beat them away in the Manchester derby so we can be optimistic.”

United have a whole week to prepare for Sunday’s trip to White Hart Lane and a match that could prove to be decisive in the race for the top four. Herrera is confident of securing a positive result, having taken note of the Reds’ good form in previous matches against the main rivals.

“When we play against top teams, I am not so worried about our performance because I think we usually do quite well against them,” Herrera adds. “The most difficult games for us or when I am a little bit more worried is when we're not playing against top teams.

“We have now one week to train, one week to prepare for the game. It is not so usual. This season we have played almost every three days, so we have to prepare very good for that game because we watched their game against Liverpool. I think they deserved to win, they controlled the second half almost fully, so it is not going to be easy, but when we play against top teams we perform better.”