Exclusive interview: Solskjaer previews trip to Tottenham

And Marcus can get back to the day job after ensuring kids aren’t going to go hungry this summer. What an incredible role model. You must be pretty proud of him?
“Oh, very, very proud of him. We know that he’s a future leader, he’s a future maybe England captain, Man United captain, who knows? Marcus has always conducted himself fantastically. It’s not about him, it’s about helping kids that need it. That’s, for me, the pleasure Marcus gets from it. I think he’ll know he’s made a difference for so many people and we’re all proud. He’s just a fantastic human being. He’s had his difficulties over the years and he brings his own experiences into this conversation. Let’s see now how he cares for them and how he’s developed and, of course, his family must be proud as well.”

We saw in Wednesday’s games, football completely unified behind the ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign with players and referees taking the knee before kick-off and obviously, on the backs of shirts of players as well. How important is that campaign, do you feel?
“Well I think we’ve had this situation for a long, long time and we’ve had a long-standing commitment to fight racism. Now it’s come out for everyone to see and we can’t let it happen any longer. We’ve had a couple of incidents throughout this season and we’ve talked about it, but now of course, everyone’s joined together and hopefully this can be the time of change.”

As for the actual game, it’s an interesting one, isn’t it? Spurs have got players back, we’ve got players back. They’ll probably feel very much in the top-four battle as well. It’s a fascinating restart, isn’t it?
“Of course Tottenham are a top team, Champions League finalists last season. Now we know Harry Kane, [Heung-min] Son and [Moussa] Sissoko, they’re all back so we’re going to play against a top team, as you say. The first game, things always happen in the first round, second round after a pre-season. Now of course, it’s towards the end of the season but it’s been a long break and you can see last night even [in the Aston Villa v Sheffield United and Manchester City v Arsenal games], mistakes happen that normally don’t. To get into the rhythm is important and we’ve got a tough start, but we’re looking forward to it.”