Ashley Young says Manchester United regret 'thrown away' points from home draws
Tuesday 2 May 2017 00:22, UK
Ashley Young says Manchester United have been left to wonder what might have been this season after recording their 10th home Premier League draw against Swansea.
United were 1-0 up against the relegation-threatened side on Sunday but had to settle for a point thanks to Gylfi Sigurdsson's free-kick, their 14th draw of the season, which has left them trailing Manchester City and Liverpool in the race for a Champions League spot.
Young says Jose Mourinho's side have come to regret the dropped points, especially after extending their unbeaten league run to 25 matches against Swansea, and says United's season could have been markedly different had they been able to convert some of the stalemates into wins.
"After 10 draws at home, you think about the points that we've lost and thrown away and where we could have been in the league," Young told MUTV.
"A lot of people have been talking about fourth spot in the league but I thought we could go even higher than that.
"We've got a lot of tough games but as long as we're prepared I'm sure we can go and get the points that we need."
United can still qualify for the Champions League next term if they can reach and then win the Europa League final in Stockholm on May 24 but must contend with a series of injuries and a relentless fixture schedule before their semi-final first leg against Celta Vigo on Thursday.
Mourinho's side played nine games in April and face matches every three or four days until the end of the season. Marouane Fellaini is serving a domestic ban but will be available to play Celta Vigo, Paul Pogba and Juan Mata are set to return to the side, but Luke Shaw and Eric Bailly joined the injured list against Swansea.
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"We'll have to recover again for the next few days and then we've got that trip [to Vigo] to look forward to. It's not ideal getting a few more injuries on top of the ones we've already got but we have to keep going," Young said.
"I think that's all it's been over the last month. You play a game, recover, and play another game. That's exactly what will happen.
"We have plenty of incentive to get ourselves up for the Europa League semi-final and a chance to get to the final. If we can win that, we'll get into the Champions League."
