Diogo Dalot has been competing with Aaron Wan-Bissaka for the right-back position this season and has started the last three games for Manchester United.
With eight games of the Premier League season remaining, and United currently in seventh place in the table, Dalot has told MUTV he’s acutely aware how important it is for the team to start picking up points to play in Europe’s elite competition next season.
We still have a lot to play for this season. We want to be in the Champions League next season, so we need to push. We need to win games and we need to give everything until the end of the season. We know that there are not a lot of games left but we need to do our job. Then we’ll see how things go. I’m pretty sure that if we are on the best level that we can be, we are going to be in the Champions League next season.
United face Everton away on Saturday afternoon, with Frank Lampard’s side in the midst of a relegation battle. The former Chelsea man took charge when the team were six points away from 10th and six points away from the bottom three. They’re now just one point away from the relegation zone and 12 points from 10th.
Dalot recognises Everton’s desperation for points will mean we have a tough game on our hands.
To go to Goodison Park, it’s always a tough atmosphere to play, we know that they’re struggling a little bit, but they will have motivation to play against us, so we need to expect everything and be ready for any kind of challenge. They are fighting for their lives. We need to be completely sharp, completely focused on what we need to do, and expect them to try everything to get points out of the game.
Dalot’s has spoken explicitly about the areas where United need to improve in the remaining weeks.
We need to start building again, especially on a physicality level. We need to be more aggressive; we need to want [to win] more than the other team. [Our] quality will come out for itself but the physical levels, the mental levels have to be more than them so that we can win the game.
