'We've been drawn back in' - Luke Shaw makes Manchester United admission over top four battle

It has been a grueling slog of a season for Manchester United, and it isn't over yet.

Erik ten Hag's side have gone the full 12 rounds across four competitions this season and will have played 62 competitive matches by the time the full-time whistle blows in the FA Cup final.

There have been highs and lows, the latest of which came in the 99th minute on Thursday night, when Alexis Mac Allister clinically dispatched a penalty after Luke Shaw's silly handball.

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United have no time to feel sorry for themselves, though. They must roll with the punches and go again on Sunday afternoon, another important match in a top-four battle they feel they should have already won weeks ago.

"I think we have to be honest; that is what is even more disappointing. It was extremely comfortable at one point, but with the way we have been playing and the results we've had, we've been drawn back into a fight that we didn't want to be in," Shaw admitted after the Brighton loss.

"We have to refocus; we have to get ready because West Ham are fighting for their lives, and whenever we go there, it is a tough game. We need to move on quickly from this and refocus."

It speaks volumes about Shaw's character that he is the only United player brave enough to face the media after such a gut-wrenching ending to the match on Thursday night.

The England international hardly put a foot wrong in his makeshift central defensive role; the issue was that he momentarily put his hand in the wrong place instead.

As he spoke to us shortly after the full-time whistle, he revealed nothing had been said in the shell-shocked dressing room at that point. The time for talking will come when they face West Ham on Sunday