Manchester United’s achievements this season have been all the more remarkable given the low ebb they hit in mid-January when they lost their last league game.
That 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford to Burnley raised speculation about Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s job position.
After that loss, United were six points out of the top four and 14 behind Leicester City, before a 13-match league unbeaten run has set up this weekend’s thrilling finale.
“There are many many factors, many reasons. Belief is one,” Solskjaer said.
“I think the belief, the confidence, the change of atmosphere, Bruno Fernandes coming in has made a massive difference, we’ve got our best players fit and raring to go.
“It’s been many different reasons for the upturn but it’s been down to the work, they have trusted us, that they can step by step believe and trust in what we have said and the boys have worked really hard, the fitness levels and the mental robustness is so much better than last season.”
Solskjaer has warned his players that one lapse in concentration could spell disaster at the King Power on Sunday.
With Leicester standing one point and one place outside the Champions League places, a draw will return United to Europe’s top competition and mean they avoid paying hefty penalty refunds to sponsors should they miss out for a second successive Champions League campaign.
With Chelsea on the same points as United, but with a vastly inferior goal difference, Solskjaer’s side could even lose to Leicester and qualify – as long as Frank Lampard’s side do the same at home to Wolves.
But while Solskjaer insists his side will maintain their positive approach to the vital encounter, he insists that there can be no repeat of recent mental errors.
“Focus and concentration are vital in football when you play against quality teams and quality players,” he said.
“One lapse of concentration can hurt you but we’re going into it with a strong frame of mind. It’s not ‘job done,’ we have got to this point and have one more game this season.
“This is a journey for this team, this is one extra step on that journey for this team.
“We’ve come a long way mentally, shown more robustness, resilience. We’ve lost the first goal in games, for example, but we’ve also shown the heights when everything’s flowing, I’m delighted with how the development looks.
“We want to go there and dominate the game. We wanted to get to this position to go to Leicester and beat them. So we’re not going to change the approach, we want to go there and try and win the game.”
United’s thrilling finale is all the more unexpected given a recent dip in form.
A disappointing home draw with Southampton, in which they conceded an equaliser with virtually the last kick off the game, has been followed by a poor FA Cup showing in losing to Chelsea and a home draw with struggling West Ham.
But Solskjaer insists confidence levels within his squad are high and, despite obvious sights of fatigue in recent games, his players should have one more high-level 90 minute performance left in them.
He said: “I think confidence levels have to be high, we’ve given ourselves a great chance going into last game, when the last game of the season is in front of you, you expect any players to have bruises, aches, tiredness.
“Even though this season has been different, it’s been a draining one for everyone, but we have enough energy for 90-plus minutes, I’m sure.
“But, having been so far behind with the restart, we had to go for it, go for goals, go for points and it’s been a great effort by everyone to get into this position with one game to go.”
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