Manchester United begin their FA Cup campaign this evening with a third-round clash away to Wigan Athletic.
The Red Devils oversaw a superb journey in the competition last season, in which they progressed to the final before ultimately falling at the final hurdle. To make matters worse, the defeat came to rivals Manchester City as they secured their second trophy en route to matching United’s treble.
Now, the FA Cup is perhaps United’s only shot at silverware this term; they’ve already exited the Carabao Cup and Europe, and currently sit eighth-placed in the Premier League, so you’d be forgiven for assuming a title race is out of the realm of possibility.
It’s still early days yet though and the Reds mustn’t fall victim to underestimating the opposition, who rank two divisions lower in League One.
Ten Hag previews FA Cup clash
When quizzed on the prominence of tonight’s contest, as well as making amends for last season’s heartbreak, Erik ten Hag told reporters in his pre-match press conference: “It is a cup game, so it is do or die. So I like it but we have had this situation before this season and we have to be ready for the game. We had one game [last season] to decide the winner, and we were not [it].”
“So we have to make sure we get ready for that game and we will face an opponent who is 100 per cent [ready] and will give more than 100 per cent, as every opponent is going more than 100 per cent against Manchester United. But especially this time and we have to be well prepared for the game,” the manager concluded, as cited by ManUtd.com.
