Fulham manager Marco Silva is relishing the opportunity to go head-to-head with Manchester United again on Sunday.
Battles with the Reds have been very tight contests the last few years, but we come up against a new coach this time around in Michael Carrick, with their former midfielder leading his side to wins over Manchester City and Arsenal in his first two games in interim charge.
“Playing against Manchester United, home or away, they are always special and difficult games – at Old Trafford, probably more,” Silva explained.
“The environment, for sure, is going to be great, and we like this type of challenge, it’s going to be a great test for ourselves. To test ourselves in these type of places and against sides that are full of motivation, is going to be a great one for us.
“And we face it, we go there to really match them, and to do our best to get a good result, understanding all the noise around and the reaction from them.”
In such a tight season, an away win on Sunday would move us to within a point of our opponents, who currently sit fourth in the table. Not that Silva expects that to affect how the match plays out…
“The Premier League has been very competitive,” Silva said. “Last season was very, very competitive. This season has been more.
“Everybody expected it’s probably not so easy to have another one with the same level of competitiveness and all that stuff, [but] this one has been.
“You get two, three good results, and you are in a great position in the table. But if you are not on the top of your game, in two, three games you fall down straightaway, and you are going to be in the positions that are not so nice.
“We go game by game, already go for the next one with full motivation. Understand the challenge that is ahead of us. If Man United is four points above ourselves, or one point, or 10 points, it’s not going to have any impact in the game.”