Mata: Festive Period Good For Fans

Juan Mata says the festive period is a nice time of the season for supporters, as Manchester United enter a crucial phase of the campaign.

The Reds make the trip to The Hawthorns on Sunday to face struggling West Bromwich Albion – the first of six games in the space of 15 days, five of which are in the Premier League.

United have often been in good form during this busy period down the years and will look to build momentum after bouncing back from last weekend’s derby defeat with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Bournemouth in midweek.

Mata – who now has 18 Premier League assists, the most of any United player since he joined in January 2014 – set up Romelu Lukaku’s decisive header against the Cherries with a fine cross as the Spaniard played the full 90 minutes at Old Trafford.

Speaking to MUTV after Wednesday night’s win, the midfielder emphasised the need to be ready for the game against West Brom and the busy run-in over Christmas and New Year – which he feels is a bonus for fans, with matches every few days.

He said: “If you win or you lose, you can’t think about the game too much. We have to recover for the weekend. We have another game, away this time. Christmas is a crazy period when you play in the Premier League, but it is nice for the fans because they get to see so many games.”

The Reds travel to Championship high-fliers Bristol City next Wednesday in the Carabao Cup quarter-final before concluding a run of three successive away games at Leicester on Saturday 23 December. Jose Mourinho’s men will then host Burnley on Boxing Day before welcoming Southampton to Old Trafford on 30 December and start 2018 away at Everton on New Year’s Day.

“We have a lot of games this month and is not easy to face a game after game, but we need to keep going and keep adding three points after three points if we want, in February or March, to be in a position that we can continue to challenge," added Mata.

The 29-year-old, who scored a penalty in a 2-0 win over West Brom at OT in 2015, will be working hard to be involved again this weekend as the Reds face the Baggies, who have not won a league game since August and are languishing just above the relegation zone in 17th place.