Juan Mata admits Manchester United have 'seven finals' left before the end of the season

Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal are among United's final seven fixtures

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It's that time of the year when every league game turns into a cup final as sides chase their particular targets - and that includes Manchester United who are yet to rule out winning the title.

According to Juan Mata, "every game" between now and the end of the season will be like a trip to Wembley, including those against Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal.

With Liverpool losing to Arsenal, United beating Aston Villa and Tottenham drawing with Burnley this weekend, the gap between United and those outside the Champions League qualification places is eight points. The cushion has allowed Louis van Gaal's side to start looking up rather than down with the manager still targeting table-toppers Chelsea.

Despite a tough set of fixtures, that also include Everton, West Brom, Crystal Palace and Hull, Mata is confident that United can continue to pick up points if they maintain their recent good form that's seen them win their last three matches.

“The season has gone so quickly – it seems we were in pre-season only a few months ago. But we still have some finals left before the end,” he told MUTV.

“We want to finish as high as we can and I think we can win a lot of games between now and the end of the season if we perform like we did in the last few games.

“We are facing two or three very big rivals like Chelsea, City and Arsenal so we need to be at our best level to beat them."

"Each game is a final and we have to think about each one on their own."

Manchester City come to Old Trafford next Sunday in a game that could be crucial to which of the Manchester clubs finishes higher up the table.

"Now we are thinking about Sunday [against City] and then we will think about the next one," added Mata.

"Every point is very important from now until the end and we will look at every game as a final.”