'We have to' - Ruben Amorim drops major Man United admission that will interest Everton fans

Ruben Amorim has suggested that Manchester United will play their youngster in the Premier League until they can no longer win the Europa League - handing Everton the chance to finish above the Red Devils.

The Toffees have propelled themselves out of a top flight relegation battle since David Moyes' return as manager in January. Everton have taken 21 points from 12 matches and moved up to 13th in the table, having earned a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest last weekend. As a result, Everton have surpassed United and Tottenham Hotspur in the table.

While the members of the so-called Big Six are enduring disappointing seasons, it would be an excellent effort if Everton can finish above both teams. The Blues have not finished above United since 2013 - the season that Moyes left Goodison Park to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford.

United are in pursuit of winning the Europa League this term, though, having advanced into the quarter-finals after a dramatic 5-4 extra-time victory over Olympique Lyonnais on Thursday night. And head coach Amorim has suggested that United are prepared to sacrifice the rest of their remaining league games to win the European competition and earn a spot in next season’s Champions League. The Red Devils face Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday, with Everton in action against Manchester United at Goodison Park tomorrow.

“One moment can change a lot of things in the players’ minds,” Amorim told TNT Sports after the Lyon victory. “We will have to be really focused on the Europa League and we will have to take a risk with the kids in the Premier League. We have to be tough on that and the fans have to understand that we have to focus on the Europa League.”

Spurs perspective

Meanwhile, Tottenham could also put their chief focus in the Europa League, having also advanced in the last four after beating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 on aggregate. There are suggestions that head coach Ange Postecoglou needs to win the competition if he is to stay on as Spurs boss next season. The North London side have lost 17 of their 32 domestic league games this term.

Postecoglou said via Football.London: “From our perspective we’ve had a difficult season and I think there’s some reasoning behind that was pretty evident that when we've got our strongest team out there, a lot of things we’ve suffered with this year I’m sure we wouldn’t have. The spine of our team, at times we've been missing Vicario, Romero, Van de Ven, Bentancur, Solanke, all of them we've been missing at different times this year.

“We've got the whole group. It's not just them, it's the whole group together. We know that we can be a team that's pretty compelling against anybody. We're in the final four now so we've given ourselves a chance.”