Maguire Fully Focused On United Finale

Harry Maguire will block out sentiment and memories when he returns to the King Power Stadium for the first time as a Manchester United player in Sunday’s Premier League finale against former club Leicester City.

It’s set to be a nerve-jangling 90-minutes when the fierce battle for a Premier League top-four place and a coveted Champions League passport for next season will finally be decided.

Our captain was still at Hull City when Leicester won the title in 2016 and qualified for the Champions League and he’s yet to play in European football’s biggest club competition. But in a bid to keep his United eyes on the prize on Sunday, the 27-year-old won’t indulge in any thoughts about his return to his old HQ.

“It is a big game for them and it is a big game for us and I am totally focusing on ourselves and the preparation needs to start now,” he told MUTV after United’s 1-1 draw with West Ham.

“We need to prepare right and sleep right. We have got to be fresh and play at a tempo you need to play at this club.

“You saw that in the first few minutes this game, but we fell away. We will look back, but will be fully ready on Sunday. If you can’t be ready for the game that is coming you are in the wrong sport.

“It’s a huge game. We have three days to prepare for it. With our schedule it has generally been a couple of days, then you play again, so you don’t get time on the training ground and it’s more about recovery.

“So it’s nice to have three days, which seems crazy to say, but the schedule has been harsh for the lads. We will be ready on Sunday.”

United go into a tense last day after being held to a draw against the Hammers at Old Trafford with Mason Greenwood equalising after Antonio had put the visitors ahead from the penalty spot. And Maguire wasn’t happy about dropping two points.

“We are disappointed. It was an important game. It was a very important game not to lose. But we wanted to win the game,” he said.

“We want to score goals. We have scored numerous goals of late and we started the game really well. We started on the front foot, high tempo, big intensity and we should have taken the lead but then there was the sucker-punch before half-time which was disappointing.

“It was a great reaction from the lads to come out in the second half and it was a great goal from Mason, great feet, great finish and nice play from Anto [Anthony Martial] as well to find him. But then we wanted to push on and really control the game in their half but it didn’t really happen like that, we lost tempo, intensity and aggression too much.

“We will look at it but we are in a great position and we’d have taken this at Christmas. So we have to take the positives, but we are disappointed not to win the game for sure.”