Jose Mourinho has confessed that winning the Premier League title this season is "impossible", but is still hopeful of finishing second in his maiden campaign as Manchester United boss.
The Red Devils took time to truly get going under the Portuguese following his appointment last summer, leaving them in a race for the top four since the early months of the term.
United have since put together a run of 16 games without defeat in the top flight, however, lifting them to within two points of a Champions League spot and now just five adrift of Tottenham Hotspur in second with a game in hand to play.
Ahead of his side's meeting with Bournemouth at Old Trafford on Saturday lunchtime Mourinho, who has also guided United into the last 16 of the Europa League and final eight of the FA Cup, said: "The second position is very difficult but it's very possible.
"First is impossible. Second is possible and we have to fight for it. The Europa League is very difficult, but it's a target for us and, if we beat Rostov, we find ourselves in the quarter-final. Then we have to think really seriously about the Europa League because, in this moment, we are still in the last 16.
"Quarter-final, you smell the final and then, in a certain period of the season, I have to analyse my team, the players, the conditions of everyone and, if I have to make choices, I have to make choices. But choices that I would always share with my owners, with my board, but it's not for now.
"For now it's just play - play against Bournemouth, play against Rostov, play against Chelsea [in the FA Cup quarter-final], play against Rostov again, and then let's see how we are in all the competitions, and try to make the right decisions."
United picked up the first silverware of the English domestic season last weekend by beating Southampton 3-2 in the EFL Cup final at Wembley.
Daniel Lewis
