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• Erik ten Hag backs Man Utd to win FA Cup and end neighbours City’s treble charge

  Erik ten Hag told the raucous Old Trafford faithful that Manchester United have a “really good chance” of winning the FA Cup and ending Manchester City’s treble charge.

  Having wrapped up Champions League qualification by beating Chelsea on Thursday, the Red Devils sealed third spot in the Premier League on the final day of the campaign.

  United bounced back from Kenny Tete’s early header as David De Gea saved Aleksandar Mitrovic’s penalty before Jadon Sancho and Bruno Fernandes sealed a 2-1 comeback win against Fulham.

  The players were given a fantastic reception at full-time and, after presenting De Gea with the Golden Glove trophy, boss Ten Hag made an impassioned speech to fans.

  “First of all, I want to say thank you to our players,” he told the stadium. “I think they played a brilliant season.

  “They are also supported by the staff. I want to say thank you to the staff.

  “Secondly, I want to thank you (the fans) all. We fought really strong during the season at Old Trafford and away.

  “I want to thank you for the season and your contribution backing us, for the support – it was great, so thank you.

  “But there is still one game to go and I am sure that these players will give everything to beat Manchester City next week.

  “If you have our back, I’m sure we have a really good chance to take the cup back to Old Trafford.”

  Those comments were met by a huge roar that will increase further still if Ten Hag’s men can beat City at Wembley next Saturday and add the FA Cup to February’s Carabao Cup success.

  “You have always a chance in football,” Ten Hag said in the post-match press conference.

  “The history shows we beat them in January but I think Man United in the last couple of years beat City many times.

  “So, these players know when they play at their levels that they can compete.

  “It’s obvious we play against probably – at this moment – the best team, but still there is a chance and we have to go for the chance and we have to give everything.

  “We can’t be after the game finding excuses for ourselves. I’m sure we will play a good game on Saturday.”

  Ten Hag knows United have to step up after making a sloppy start against Fulham, saying De Gea’s penalty save woke them up.

  The United boss again reiterated that he expected the long-serving Spain goalkeeper to extend his contract beyond the end of the season, before seemingly taking a dig at the owners’ backing.

  Fans called for the Glazers to leave throughout – as they always do – and Ten Hag said he did not get investment like their top-four rivals in January.

  The United boss, who was only able to make loan moves for Jack Butland, Wout Weghorst and Marcel Sabitzer, said: “The club knows if you want to play top four, compete for trophies in this tough league, then you have to invest.

  “Otherwise you don’t have a chance because other clubs will do.

  “We have seen it in the winter that all the clubs around us made huge investments. We didn’t and still we made it, so I’m really happy and proud of my team.”

  As for Fulham, they displayed heart at Old Trafford at the end of an impressive season that saw them finish 10th after promotion from the Championship.

  Head coach Marco Silva said: “We had very good moments during the game.

  “Unfortunately for us, not really consistent during all the match but the way we started we were beginning to control the game.

  “We were leading the score and I think it was well deserved because we showed the composure and quality to play, to control most of the moments.

  “Of course we had the chance to make it 2-0 and give us even more confidence and create a much-more difficult score for them.

  “De Gea saved and of course it was a moment that boosted them. You could feel is straight away in the stadium.

  “These are the moments we have to show our maturity, to show more consistency.”

• Liverpool will be Premier League contenders again next season – Jurgen Klopp

  Jurgen Klopp insists Liverpool will be Premier League contenders next season after ending an underwhelming campaign with a thrilling 4-4 draw at relegated Southampton.

  The fifth-placed Reds arrived at St Mary’s knowing they had already missed out on a top-four finish for the first time since 2015-16.

  Early goals from Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino appeared to have put the in-form visitors on course for a straightforward success on the south coast.

  But they were forced to come from 4-2 behind to stretch their unbeaten run to 11 games following Kamaldeen Sulemana’s brace and strikes from James Ward-Prowse and Adam Armstrong.

  Liverpool boss Klopp, whose side avoided defeat thanks to a goal from substitute Cody Gakpo and Jota’s second, was happy to see the back of 2022-23 and confident next term would be far more memorable.

  “There were moments during the season when you thought ‘the season will be four years long’,” he said.

  “Thank God for the last 11 games, that helped massively, gave us a real boost, gave us a perspective, gave us a basis for what we have to do.

  “That it didn’t turn into the best ever season, we see that, we know that, we are very disappointed about the fact that we didn’t make it to the top four.

  “But there are moments when you have to admit there were four teams that were better than us – that’s the truth.

  “We played a bad season, we come fifth, that is a message as well.

  “Imagine we were our normal self, which we absolutely will be again next season and will be a contender again. That’s how is it. The last 11 games helped us to realise that again.”

  Gakpo and Jota struck in the 72nd and 73rd minutes respectively to prevent Liverpool slipping to a shock defeat, while Mohamed Salah hit a post late on.

  Klopp felt his players contributed to their own undoing during a “silly” period of a chaotic contest.

  “We are 2-0 up and you know these Southampton players want to pay back to these people (home fans) and we let them, just opened the door for a really talented offensive team, with the speed they have,” he said.

  “I can make a list of things we weren’t and that led to the counter attacks they had.

  “Then it’s 2-2 and 4-2 and then we started doing the right things again. I think we could have scored a fifth and a sixth.

  “Top start, outstanding finish, in between just silly.”

• Dean Smith believes Leicester can immediately bounce back from relegation

  Dean Smith says Leicester have the capability to bounce straight back to the Premier League after they were relegated on Sunday.

  The Foxes became just the second former champions to drop out of the division, joining Blackburn in 1999, as their 2-1 final-day win against West Ham was not enough to keep them in the division due to Everton’s victory over Bournemouth.

  They went 2-0 up thanks to goals from Harvey Barnes and Wout Faes, with Pablo Fornals pulling one back for the Hammers, but it counted for nothing.

  Relegation represents a huge fall from grace as that remarkable 5000-1 title came in 2016 and they have enjoyed much more recent success as they won the FA Cup in 2021 under Brendan Rodgers, who also delivered back-to-back fifth-placed finishes.

  It will be the Championship next season, though Smith, who replaced Rodgers on a short-term SOS mission last month, reckons it could be a short stay in the second tier.

  He said: “The raw materials this club has is an elite club. It feels raw now and it hurts and everybody will be devastated but with the infrastructure it has got it can bounce back.

  “That is what happens. There has been plenty of times where you have knocks and your job is to bounce back and make sure you improve on the things that let you down and I have no doubt the club will.

  “I think it has to (reset). Any club that gets relegated, they have to find a way to bounce back. There are plenty of knocks in football, it is, we all know that week in, week out,about how you bounce back.

  “From what I have seen with the infrastructure I see no reason why it can’t bounce straight back.”

  It remains to be seen whether Smith will lead that charge next season as his future remains in the air.

  His eight-game remit has now ended, but he has experience of winning promotion in the Championship with Aston Villa.

  Smith says he has not yet thought about his long-term future but will speak to chairman Aiyawatt ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha in a few days.

  “Seven weeks, eight games, we didn’t speak about anything beyond that. I will speak to Top, who I have an awful lot of respect for, over the next couple of days and commiserate with him because the time and effort he puts into this football club is there for all to see.

  “I am certainly not thinking about my future at the moment. It is raw getting relegated now, I’ll go away and reflect on it, speak to John (Rudkin) and Top. It’s a hypothetical question at the moment.”

  Defeat ended a disappointing Premier League season for West Ham where they finished 14th, six points above the drop zone.

  But boss David Moyes admitted his mind has been on the forthcoming Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina in Prague.

  “It’s been on it for a long time, but what would you expect? Getting to European finals don’t come around too often. It’s been 47 years for West Ham.

  “We’ve got to the final, we started back in August now going into June to the final and to try and have a good Premier League season and keep the competition going, it takes a big effort and it was a big effort to retain Premier League status and to ensure we keep winning in the cup.

  “We wanted a draw because that would have got us one place higher in the league which might not mean much but it does to us, we were desperate to get there.

  “We’ve got nothing to celebrate but playing against a team who has been relegated shows how devastating it can be.”