'We have to beat the best to reach the final'

Both Bruno Fernandes and David de Gea are looking forward to taking on the Cottagers this weekend, just days after booking our place in the last eight of the Europa League.

When the draw was made, Fulham were the second-toughest team we could have faced, after Manchester City, as they were sixth in the Premier League table. Marco Silva's side have dropped down to ninth after a few recent defeats, but the Reds pair are under no illusions as to the difficulties the Londoners may pose at the weekend.

“I think it is probably one of the best teams in the draw,” De Gea told club media recently.

“Fulham have been doing really well this season.”

Our no.1 believes that it doesn't matter who we face though, as United need to beat the best teams to be in with a chance of a domestic cup double this season.

“At the end it doesn’t matter who we’ll play against because to get to the final and win a trophy we’ll have to beat the best teams in the competition: let’s keep going!”

His thoughts are echoed by Fernandes, who added: “As David said, we have to beat the best to be in the final. 

“Fulham is a really tough team, they’re playing really well with a manager that I know really well. 

“They have good players, they have been in a good moment with confidence; we played them there [at Craven Cottage] and we knew how tough it was but we have to do our job. We want to beat them and will do everything we can to be in the semi-finals.”

United beat Fulham in the capital back in November, with Alejandro Garnacho's 93rd-minute solo goal proving the difference in a 2-1 victory.

Action from Old Trafford on Sunday will be aired live on ITV in the UK; with all of the build-up, updates and post-match reaction available through Man Utd.com and the United App.