Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has revealed that he may look to prioritise the Europa League should results go against his side in their next two domestic games.
The Red Devils were held to their eighth home draw of the season by West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, leaving them five points adrift of the Champions League places with just 10 games of their season remaining.
United could also qualify for the Champions League by winning this season's Europa League, though, and Mourinho may look to sideline the league should they fall too far behind the top four.
Poor results during next week's matches against Everton at Old Trafford and Sunderland at the Stadium of Light are likely to prove pivotal when Mourinho is making a decision, with the Europa League quarter-final first leg against Anderlecht taking place on April 13.
"I just want to think that against Everton we are going to do what we tried to do [against West Brom], to try to play with our best team and try to win the match. And after Everton we go to Sunderland with the same perspective, and then after Sunderland the Europa League comes and I don't know," he told reporters.
"Then, it's possible that you see me play in the Premier League with a team where I'm going to protect the players that I consider fundamental for the Europa League. But only, only if the results in the next matches put us in a situation where mathematically, it becomes almost impossible to do it. I go with mathematics. Until it's impossible mathematically, we keep trying.
"Because this week is a week without the Europa League, we have nothing to think about with the Europa League. This week is easy. From the focus point of view, it's easy. We have to play Everton, we have to play Sunderland, and in these two matches we have to go for them thinking about the Premier League and nothing else. After that match against Sunderland, then we have Anderlecht and the quarter-final of the Europa League are very important for us."
United are 19 matches unbeaten in the Premier League, but they have drawn nine of those.
Barney Corkhill
