MANCHESTER UNITED manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is hoping that a more consistent run of form will see his side secure a top-four finish come the end of the season.

‏Following impressive wins earlier in the month against Spurs and Manchester City, United dropped points to struggling Everton and lost to relegation Watford last Sunday.

‏But despite going behind at home to Newcastle on Boxing Day thanks to a first-half Matty Longstaff goal, the Red Devils fought back to secure all three points thanks to a goal in each half from Anthony Martial either side of a superb Mason Greenwood effort and a Marcus Rashford header.

‏“If we get consistent then it’s not going to go down to the wire,” said Solskjaer. “We should get into the top four without waiting for the last game [of the season] against Leicester. But it might go down to that last game against them, who knows.

‏“I think it’s been said in quite certain terms what type of team we are and they know what we expect and they know when we are at our best. Against Newcastle we showed it and we saw it even though we went one-nil down, heads didn’t drop. 

‏“But we do have to make it hard to play against us. We can’t play tippy-tappy football. At this moment in time we can’t play like [Manchester] City — only City can do that. We’ve got to show more energy, drive, urgency and selflessness in every single game. That’s the way we have to play at the moment.”

‏Solskjaer will now be looking for his side to avoid similar slip-ups to that of Everton and Watford as he takes his side to Burnley with less than 48 hours to prepare, much to the frustration of the Norwegian.

‏He said: “I don’t think it’s fair on the boys. I don’t think it’s fair to be expected to perform at the best of your level both mentally and physically 48 hours after you’ve played. 

‏“But I think we are probably in the best position to perform on Saturday because the game [against Newcastle] was over after 45 minutes and we are young. So we’ve got a great chance at Burnley to perform at the best level because our starting outfield players have an average age of 23 so it makes it easier to recover than Burnley because they played until the end against Everton [on Boxing Day].

‏“But it’s not fair, especially when there has been a game against Watford [last Sunday] and a game [against Arsenal] on New Year’s Day. Three games in a week is OK once in a while but not when it’s as tight as this.”