Ashley Young has said that Manchester United’s victories at Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelsea have given Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side “massive belief” as they prepare to face the league leaders Liverpool on Sunday.
The 2-0 triumph at Stamford Bridge in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Monday means United have won 11 of the 13 games the Norwegian has taken charge of since succeeding José Mourinho after the defeat against Liverpool at Anfield in December.
Their only defeat came at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie last week as Solskjær has seen his side set up a sixth-round meeting with Wolves in the FA Cup and move up to fourth place in the Premier League.
With Jürgen Klopp’s side heading to Old Trafford in a fixture that could prove crucial to their ambitions of ending a 29-year wait to be champions, Young insisted United were capable of beating anyone.
“It gives us all massive belief – obviously you will get confidence from winning games,” he said. “We beat Spurs away and Arsenal away and now Chelsea away. We knew Chelsea’s weaknesses and we knew how we wanted to play the game and I think we did that superbly well from the start until the end. It was magnificent and I think we had another gear to go. That says a lot about us bouncing back from midweek and getting a result.”
The 33-year-old – who signed a one-year contract extension last week – has captained United since moving ahead of Antonio Valencia in the pecking order at right-back under Solskjær and is expected to retain the armband against Liverpool. He admitted that they were disappointed not to have been drawn against Manchester City in the FA Cup after Paul Pogba’s heroics set up the victory against Chelsea.
“I was surprised we didn’t get City – that’s what we were looking for,” he said. “But you have to beat every team in the competition and that’s what we’ll try to do and get through to the semi-final.”
Romelu Lukaku is expected to be on the substitutes’ bench against Liverpool after he was handed a rare start against Chelsea. Asked whether he had been frustrated to have been mainly on the bench since the defeat at Anfield, the Belgium striker said: “Yes. But you just have to be professional and give it your best when your chance comes. That’s my mindset, and I’m just taking it a day at a time. I can play however the manager needs me, if it’s alone or with Marcus [Rashford] behind me or out wide. As long as the manager needs me, I’m ready to play.”