Mata feeling positive

Juan Mata is targeting two more wins as Manchester United look to sign off 2016 on a positive note.

United's 2-0 win over West Brom on Saturday was their third Premier League victory on the bounce and after two games away from home they host Sunderland and Middlesbrough at Old Trafford before the end of the year.

Mata believes their hard word is finally paying off and he has urged the team to maintain their good form against Sunderland and Middlesbrough.

"Our win against WBA on Saturday, the fourth victory in a row, gives us plenty of optimism and good feelings with a view to the last two weeks of the year. We are reinforcing something that I’ve been claiming since the start of the season: that the team has got potential and good football, and I’m sure we will keep showing that in 2017," Mata wrote in his weekly blog.

"Before the end of the year we have two more games at Old Trafford where we will try to continue with the positive results. In the last two away fixtures we had tough games against Crystal Palace and West Brom, and we didn’t have much time to rest in between, but we were able to win both of them with a mix of talent, effort, and being united. That should be our mentality when we play against Sunderland and Middlesbrough, as we try to get closer to the teams ahead of us in the table before the end of the year.

"We haven’t yet reached the half of the season and we want to extend this good run of results for as long as we can. Everything can happen in the Premier League. This competition is well-known for being very thrilling until the end, and there’s still a long way to get there."

eir Sport channels are available across the eir Vision, Sky and Vodafone TV platforms as well as on the eir Sport app. All 6 channels in the eir Sport pack are available for free if you are a residential eir broadband customer.