Solskjaer beats Pochettino in unofficial Man U job audition

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This article was published 13/01/2019 (2820 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LONDON – Manchester United’s league position hasn’t changed. Everything else has under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Surpassing the great Matt Busby in 1946, Solskjaer has now opened his United reign with a club-record six successive victories after beating Tottenham 1-0 in the Premier League on Sunday. It was secured by Marcus Rashford’s first-half goal and 11 second-half saves by goalkeeper David de Gea.

“I am just doing my job every single day here until the contract runs out at the end of June, I think,” Solskjaer said. “I’ll have a holiday in there, so I’m not thinking about that whatsoever.”

United remains sixth in the standings, just as it was when Jose Mourinho was fired last month. But thanks to Arsenal’s struggles, United is now behind the London club on goal difference. Chelsea in the fourth and final Champions League place is only six points in front of United and Arsenal.

United is used to far loftier targets — winning the league a record 20 times — but it has failed to do so in the chaotic years since Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.

When Mourinho was fired last month, Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino emerged as favourite as the long-term successor. But Solskjaer is staking a strong claim to make his loan move from Molde permanent after winning this unofficial audition against Pochettino.

“It’s not ethical to talk about what he is doing or what I (am) doing,” Pochettino said. “It was a game and a battle between Tottenham and Manchester United, because if not, we would need to play him against me, one vs. one on the pitch.”

Pochettino’s target is securing a fourth consecutive top-four finish to qualify for the Champions League in a season of disruption with the delay to move back from Wembley into the club’s new stadium at White Hart Lane.

But Tottenham has now lost back-to-back league home games for the first time since 2015 at the end of Pochettino’s first season. The team remains third in the standings, a point ahead of Chelsea, two points behind defending champion Manchester City and nine adrift of leader Liverpool.

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City isn’t in action until Monday night against Wolverhampton Wanderers. There was one other Premier League game on Sunday, with Everton beating Bournemouth 2-0. Goals from Kurt Zouma and Dominic Calvert-Lewin gave the Merseyside club only its second win in nine Premier League matches.

It came at the end of a week when Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri, while backing manager Marco Silva, told the annual general meeting that the season so far was “not good enough.”

Everton is now up to 10th in the standings, three points ahead of Bournemouth, which has lost nine of its last 12 league games.

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