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Burn warns of United's ruthless streak

Dan Burn says that Albion’s current league position above Manchester United counts for little heading into Sunday’s game, and that United’s Europa League performance against Partizan Belgrade showed how ruthless they can be going forward.

By James Hilsum • 09 November 2019

By Paul Hazlewood
Dan Burn speaks to the media ahead of Manchester United.

Tomorrow’s hosts head into the match after securing qualification for the Europa League last 32 on Thursday, and Burn is remaining guarded against another display of that nature this weekend. 

He said, “We’re above them sitting eighth, which is very good, but it’s still early days and they’re a very big club with huge players like [Paul] Pogba, [Anthony] Martial and [Harry] Maguire. We’ll go there full of confidence after playing well all season, but we know it’s going to be tough.

“Old Trafford is a great stadium with a huge crowd. United may not be the team that they were since the [Sir Alex] Ferguson era, but I’m sure the confidence boost of the last two results will help them.

“The key will be to make sure we have a good start and not let the crowd get behind them. We cannot make too many unforced errors, because every time they won the ball back against Partizan, they were through on goal and created chances. We’ve got to play our way through the game and believe in what we do, because when we do play well from the back, we can cut teams open.”

14:05

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Potter's Man United press conference

The 27-year-old explained he is now feeling at home at the highest level and commented on the support he’s received from his fellow defenders, as well as head coach Graham Potter. 

“I always felt that I could play at this level, and the head coach is giving me a chance to express myself, which I’m really enjoying,” he continued.

“The other defenders here are helping me a lot as well, both Dunky [Lewis Dunk] and Shane [Duffy] are both international level centre-halves that have played at this level for a good couple of seasons, so it’s just about learning off them in training as much as I can every day.

“One of the biggest steps up for me at this level is that the strikers are a lot sharper than the ones I played against before in previous divisions, so in that sense, it’s much more of a mental challenge too.”

01:48

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Solskjaer's pre-match press conference

The Albion centre-back believes that the Premier League as a whole has become more open for the less fancied teams in the division, but despite Albion’s recent resurgence in form, he is refusing to become complacent.

“The league is changing, and four or five years ago you perhaps had three or four teams that were challenging for the top positions. 

“Now, you’ve got eight, nine or ten teams that could be challenging for the European positions. You look at how well Wolves did last season, and it’s no surprise to see where Sheffield United are now - I know how good they are after playing them last season in the Championship with Wigan. 

“Leicester are probably playing better than they were when they won the title and are in the top three. The standard has gone up, and the smaller teams are starting to catch up with the rest of the so-called ‘big six’, barring Liverpool or Man City.

“It’s been good to sit in a healthy position, but we know we’ve got a tough schedule coming up and we can’t get carried away.”