Manchester United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, has defended his decision to bench Cristiano Ronaldo in Saturday’s draw against Everton.

The Red Devils missed out on topping the Premier League summit after Andros Townsend’s second-half goal cancelled Anthony Martial’s opener.

However, Solskjaer was quizzed after the match about his decision to start the game without Cristiano Ronaldo.

He said: “No. You make decisions throughout a long, long season; you have to manage the players’ workload and the decision for me was the correct one.

“Anthony Martial did well, scored a good goal. Edinson [Cavani] needed minutes and could have had a goal. We have to make those decisions at the time.

“We got hit on one break that cost us and we lacked that cutting edge to get the important second goal. We made a couple of decisions that cost us. We had players behind the ball when the ball was delivered and we should have dealt with it. We need to work on it because we are facing more and more opponents who allow us to have possession.”

After the international break next week, United will face Leicester (A), Liverpool (H), Tottenham (A) and Manchester City (H) to come in the Premier League with vital Champions League group games against Atalanta wedged in.