Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been encouraged by the competitive edge and camaraderie in his Manchester United squad as they prepare for the resumption of the Premier League season.

United are due to face Tottenham away on 19 June in their first match since beating LASK 5-0 in the Europa League on 12 March. The victory in Austria stretched their unbeaten run to 11 matches and Solskjaer is confident they can continue where they left off.

“The first game is two weeks from today so we need to step up the training and get an edge to our game again,” Solskjaer told United’s official website. “Everyone knows that we will have to be at our best, have to be focused (against Tottenham).

“We know it’s a big game for everyone. We had Chelsea when we started the league this season so I’m confident that our players can go into the Tottenham game with that mentality of going there to play a very good game of football.”

After their clash against former manager Jose Mourinho’s side, United welcome fellow European hopefuls Sheffield United to Old Trafford on 24 June before travelling to Brighton on 30 June - after an FA Cup quarter-final at Norwich on 27 June.

It is a hectic period of fixtures, but Solskjaer believes his side are ready for the challenge.

“Training has been about recapping what we did well, tweaking maybe one or two things and looking at some new ideas, but hopefully we can see a lot of what we saw towards the end before the lockdown,” the Norwegian added.

“We’ve got games coming weekend, midweek, weekend for a spell so you have to focus on ourselves and not just on that one, first game. I think everyone can see over the last few months how the players have behaved and dealt with the situation and how we as a club have dealt with it. The players have kept themselves fit as well, which has been great.

“The weather was fantastic when they got going in small groups and gradually now, as we’ve got into contact training, you can see a little bit more of the edge but also the camaraderie and team bonding. That’s vital for me in a team. That’s one of the main things, that we are a team and the team goes before anything else.”

PA

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