David de Gea still one of world’s best goalkeepers, says Man Utd team-mate Nemanja Matic

Nemanja Matic has backed David de Gea to recover from his string of high-profile errors which have hampered Manchester United’s end to the season.

De Gea has fallen short of his impeccably-high standards in recent weeks, with costly goalkeeping errors allowing Gylfi Sigurdsson, Lionel Messi and Marcos Alonso to score against United.

Matic, however, is confident De Gea will rediscover the form which ranks him among the world’s best goalkeepers.

“Players make mistakes in every game and when a goalkeeper makes a mistake everyone sees that,” Matic told Sky Sports News.

“When you are one of the best goalkeepers in the world people talk so much about his mistakes.

“When a goalkeeper at a ‘smaller’ club makes a mistake, its spoken about for one or two days, but one of De Gea’s mistakes is being spoken about for seven days.

“I’m very confident that this mistake won’t affect his career. He doesn’t read newspapers. He is one of the best goalkeepers in the world and will be for years to come. I am very happy to have him in the team.

“He is a great guy, a great goalkeeper, and is probably the best player at United over the last four or five years. He is very focused on his job and is a good character. It’s good to have people like him in the dressing room.”

De Gea’s error in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea left Manchester United sixth in the Premier League, behind the Blues and Arsenal, and left their hopes of finishing in the top four out of their hands.

United travel to Huddersfield on Super Sunday – live on Sky Sports Premier League – before hosting Cardiff on the final day of the season.

“We have to be focused on our games and not to think about Chelsea and Arsenal,” Matic added. “We know that the chances are very small, but we have to go until the end.

“We have two more games to play and hopefully we can take six points and wait and see what Arsenal and Chelsea get in their last two games.

“You have to be focused and forget the last games, when you win or lose. You have to be focused for the next challenge.”

Sky Sports’ Premier League games this weekend

• Everton vs Burnley: Live on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event, Friday from 7pm; Kick-off 8pm
• Bournemouth vs Tottenham: Live on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event, Saturday from 12pm; Kick-off 12.30pm
• Newcastle vs Liverpool: Live on Sky Sports Premier League from 7pm and Main Event, Saturday from 7.30pm; Kick-off 7.45pm
• Huddersfield vs Man Utd: Live on Sky Sports Premier League from 1pm and Main Event, Sunday from 1.30pm; Kick-off 12.30pm.
• Arsenal vs Brighton: Live on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event, Sunday from 4.15pm; Kick-off 4.30pm.
• Man City vs Leicester: Live on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event, Monday from 7pm; Kick-off 8pm.

(c) Sky News 2019: David de Gea still one of world’s best goalkeepers, says Man Utd team-mate Nemanja Matic