Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag issues defiant message ahead of season-defining week

Erik ten Hag insists Manchester United are not daunted by a run of three tough away games that could ultimately define their season.

On Sunday United go to Everton, whose players and fans will be fired up after being docked a record 10 points for breaking Premier League financial rules. Then United travel to Istanbul to face Galatasaray in a must-win game to keep alive their Champions League hopes, in what is sure to be a hostile and intimidating environment.

Completing the hat-trick of away games is a trip to top-four rivals Newcastle, whose second-team knocked holders United out of the Carabao Cup earlier this month.

Despite their poor form – with nine defeats from 18 games this season – Ten Hag said his side are heading in the right direction and relishing their run of games on the road.

“All games are very important, but our away record this season so far is very good,” said Ten Hag. “We can take confidence and strong belief into those games.

“But we need to go from game to game, the first game is the most important - Everton - and we’re looking forward to it.”

On United being able to handle hostile welcomes, such as the one that awaits them in Turkey, Ten Hag said: “You could see that this team has personality and character in hostile environments, like in Copenhagen.

“We deal with it. I feel quite comfortable away from home. We are, say, one third through the season. It was a tough start, as we've seen, but I think we're catching up.

“From the last five games, we’ve won four. So we're in a good mood and I think we're heading in the right direction. Before we go into that intense programme in December, I think we're building confidence. We're building strong beliefs and we're also building some routines.

“Now we hope we can more or less stay with the same line-up or with 12 to 14 players, because I think so far that was our difficulty. Every time we had to change and we didn't develop routines.”