De Gea: United ready to thrive during Christmas

David De Gea admits recovery is the name of the game at Manchester United as they look to catch up with the Premier League’s top four over the Christmas period.

Starting with Wednesday night’s game away to Crystal Palace, the Red Devils had a run of five games in 19 days – a schedule that could arguably make or break their season.

Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Tottenham ended a run of three successive Premier League draws and reignited hope that the top four is still within their grasp.

(Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

They can ill-afford too many more slip-ups, however, and de Gea says only the fittest will survive a testing calendar.

“At the moment, the most important thing for the players is recovery, because we’re playing a game every three days,” said the goalkeeper.

“So we recover, then train a bit, watch videos of the teams and try to be ready for the games.

“Now we have only the league games and, of course, we need to be really focused on them, try to play good football and keep winning, in order to be as high as possible in the table.”