Brown: We can beat anyone!

Friday 02 June 2023 12:37

Former Manchester United defender Wes Brown has the belief that Erik ten Hag's side can overcome neighbours City at Wembley on Saturday.

The ex-England international, who was part of our Treble-winning squad in 1998/99, is acutely aware of what is at stake this weekend, with City coming into the game on the back of winning the Premier League again with the Champions League final against Internazionale still to come.

However, he is keen to stress all that matters is achieving our own aims - lifting both domestic cups for the first time in our history - rather than concentrating on stopping Pep Guardiola's Blues.

Buoyed by our Carabao Cup final triumph over Newcastle United and league win over City at Old Trafford, Wes is optimistic ahead of the big day.

“We need to win," Brown told Inside United, the official club magazine. "It's a great opportunity for us. First of all, not just to beat them but for another cup. If we could get two cups in one season, it would be an unbelievable season, and I think we’ve already probably stepped up from what everybody thought we were going to achieve this season.

"It’s an opportunity now to go into the derby game at Wembley and adding another trophy. I think it’s a game that the lads will be well up for and, hopefully, we can stop them from maybe winning and adding the trophy to their cabinet.”

As a Treble winner, Brown cannot disguise the fact that preventing City from having the opportunity to win all three trophies is something that is on the supporters' minds.

“It's very important," he stated. "We don’t want that but, like I said, people will say it’s in City’s hands, and I say it’s in ours because we can stop them in one [of the competitions]. We’ve just got to think about ourselves and knowing we can win this FA Cup and we can do a cup double.

"It's the manager’s first season, I think if we’d talked about this at the beginning of the season, everyone would probably have laughed a little bit with the position we’ve been in over the last few years. But this is what we can do and I believe in it. We have had injuries and you know that hasn’t helped along the way but I feel that, when we play well, we’re more than capable of beating anyone. We’ve just not been as consistent."

A first-ever all-Manchester final has attracted worldwide attention, with a global audience due to tune in to see who lifts the trophy at the national stadium.

"It just makes it more exciting that it is a derby," admitted Brown. "So you know these fans, both sets of fans, will be looking forward to it. Ultimately, it’s a game we have to win. It’s a chance that we can knock them out of one of the cups, by winning it, and it’s something that we need to do.

"Like I said, it’s going to be an exciting game but, to do that, we’re going to have to play really well.

"It's a big day and it's all about, you know, special occasions and memories then and, hopefully, that's for us.”

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