Man Utd must step up for FA Cup, says Dalot after Bournemouth draw

Manchester United cannot afford the errors they have made in their recent Premier League fixtures if they want to win the FA Cup, defender Diogo Dalot said after Saturday's 2-2 draw at Bournemouth.

United, who take on Coventry City on April 21 in the FA Cup semifinals, have been winless in their last four league games and slipped to seventh place on Saturday.

Bruno Fernandes equalised twice to salvage an unconvincing 2-2 draw after goals by Dominic Solanke and Justin Kluivert had put Bournemouth in front.

United were again guilty of allowing opponents far too many attempts at goal, Bournemouth having 20 to United's eight. Erik Ten Hag's side have scored 47 goals this season, the lowest among the top 10 teams in the standings, and conceded 48.

“It's something we have to improve because it's been nowhere near good enough for the level of this club,” Dalot said on Saturday when asked about United allowing opponents so many attempts on goal.

“We need to take responsibility for, we cannot hide from it. The standards are always high at this club.”

“We have to be accountable for these types of mistakes that we are making as a team that we cannot if we want to fight for the big trophies. We have a huge opportunity to be in the FA Cup final”

United have picked up 50 points from 32 league games and trail sixth-placed Newcastle United on goal difference. They take on Coventry at Wembley on April 21 and host Sheffield United in the league three days later.

Also on Saturday champions Manchester City turned up the heat on their title rivals with a 5-1 home win over relegation-threatened Luton Town to move top of the table.

With Arsenal and Liverpool both playing on Sunday, City marched above them with a rampant display to move to 73 points from 32 games. Arsenal (71) host fourth-placed Aston Villa while Liverpool (71) welcome Crystal Palace.

It was a statement win by City in their chase for an unprecedented fourth successive English title and more evidence that any team finishing above them will have to be near-perfect between now and the end of the season.

Tottenham Hotspur's hopes of finishing fourth and ensuring a Champions League berth were dealt a blow as they were hammered 4-0 at Newcastle United who moved into sixth place to boost their own European hopes.

At the bottom, Brentford eased away from trouble with a 2-0 home win against Sheffield United for whom time is running out.

Nottingham Forest missed the chance to do the same as they were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Wolverhampton Wanderers. Forest are in 17th place, one point above third-from bottom Luton Town and six ahead of 19th-placed Burnley who drew 1-1 at home to Brighton and Hove Albion.

City needed 65 seconds to go ahead against Luton with Erling Haaland's wayward volley smashing into the face of Luton's Daiki Hashioka and into the net.

Luton hung in grimly but Mateo Kovacic's strike made it 2-0 before Haaland converted a penalty for his 20th league goal of the season.

Jeremy Doku and Josko Gvardiol were also on target for City, with Ross Barkley grabbing a consolation for Luton.

“The only way is to win our games and put the pressure on. Luton is a difficult game, OK we scored five goals. This is the only message we can do,” City manager Pep Guardiola said.

Tottenham could have moved three points above Villa in the scrap for fourth place but were blown away by a clinical Newcastle who struck twice in two first-half minutes as Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon punished poor defending.

Isak made it 3-0 to take his league tally for the season to 17 and Fabian Schar added a fourth late on.

Tottenham dropped to fifth below Villa on goal difference.

Reuters