Michael Carrick sees ‘a lot to play for’ and wants strong finish from Man Utd

By Simon Peach, Press Association Chief Football Writer

Manchester United head to the sweltering south coast on the final day of the Premier League season but Michael Carrick insists his players’ minds will not be on the beach against European hopefuls Brighton.

After a rocky first half of the season under Ruben Amorim, things have picked up in terms of morale and results since the club turned to their former midfielder for the remainder of the campaign.

Carrick’s success led United to decide to keep him as head coach, with a two-year deal belatedly announced two days before the season finale at Brighton, which they head into with third spot guaranteed.

Sunday is a European decider for Albion, whose possibilities range from reaching the Champions League to missing out on continental football entirely, and the head coach says they will not take things lightly.

“We’re certainly conscious of the situation of the game and what’s at stake,” Carrick said. “I think we’ve certainly got a responsibility for that.

“We’ve managed to put ourselves in a position where we kind of are the position that we are in the league and I’ve said we wanted to finish strong for ourselves as much as anything.

“We’re approaching the game as we would any other game. There’s a lot to play for, for Brighton, for Bournemouth, for all the other clubs surrounding that, so we’re well aware of that.”

United secured their main objective early having wrapped up Champions League qualification with three matches to spare, although Carrick stressed it was important not to over-celebrate that feat.

The Red Devils want to be challenging for major honours again, just like Arsenal have managed as the Champions League finalists bask in the afterglow of their first Premier League crown in 22 years.

“First of all, I’d like to say a huge congratulations to Arsenal and Mikel (Arteta) and the players and all the staff,” Carrick, who was part of the Red Devils’ last title win in 2013, said.

“I think when you win the league, you win the league because you deserve it. So much over such a long period of time needs to be done so well in order to win it.

“So, they’ve been really consistent over a number of years now and the patience and the improvement that they’ve had, they’ve taken steps. I think they’re at a stage now where they deserve to win it.

“As a football club of course that’s where we want to be. We’ve been there in the past and it doesn’t mean necessarily you’ll always be there again, but that’s certainly as a football club what we’re striving for as soon as possible really.”