United on red alert as underdogs dream

.

Friday, January 08, 2016

Saturday

Wycombe            vs      Aston Villa        2:45pm

Sheffield Wed     vs      Fulham               5pm

Colchester Utd     vs      Charlton

Southampton     vs      Crystal Palace   

Bury                      vs      Bradford City  

Hartlepool Utd    vs      Derby County 

Ipswich Town     vs      Portsmouth    

B’gham City         vs      Bournemouth 

Peterborough     vs      Preston NE       

Doncaster             vs      Stoke City        

Everton                 vs      Dagenham and Redbridge

Eastleigh               vs      Bolton Wanderers

Nottingham        vs      QPR                    

Newport County          vs                       Blackburn

Leeds United        vs      Rotherham Utd                                               

Northampton     vs      MK Dons          

Norwich City       vs      Man City          

Brentford             vs      Walsall             

West Brom           vs      Bristol City       

Huddersfield       vs      Reading            John

West Ham            vs      Wolves

Watford               vs      Newcastle

Hull City                vs      Brighton

Arsenal                  vs      Sunderland     

Middlesbrough   vs      Burnley             

Man United          vs      Sheffield Utd   7:30pm          

Sunday

Oxford United     vs      Swansea City    2pm

Chelsea                  vs      Scunthorpe Utd                       4pm

Carlisle United      vs      Yeovil Town   

Tottenham           vs      Leicester City    6pm

Cardiff City           vs      Shrewsbury Town 8pm

LONDON – Sheffield United manager Nigel Adkins believes his third tier underdogs should dare to dream as they bid to claim another famous scalp against Manchester United in the FA Cup third round on Saturday.

The Blades have built up an impressive reputation as cup fighters in recent seasons, reaching the FA Cup semifinal two seasons ago and last season reaching the last four of the League Cup.

Those successes were achieved under Nigel Clough and Adkins, who replaced Clough as manager of the League One club in June, wants to follow in his footsteps by sending United crashing to a humiliating defeat at Old Trafford.

"Manchester United should beat a League One side but that’s the beauty of the FA Cup and especially the third round,” Adkins said.

"There will be upsets and surprises and why can’t that be us? It’s the Theatre of Dreams, so why can’t we dream. "It’s a game of football with three results on offer. We would be more than delighted with two of those.”

Adkins, 50, who led Southampton to the Premier League as manager in 2012, has taken Sheffield United into promotion contention on the back of a run of just two defeats in eight games, which has lifted them to eighth in the League One table.

Adkins, who has also managed Reading and Scunthorpe, knows the Blades face a massive test against a United team seeking to win the competition for a record-equalling 12th time.

But the Premier League side’s win over Swansea last weekend was their first win in nine games under Louis van Gaal and Adkins will look to exploit any vulnerability as the Yorkshire club, who last won the competition in 1925, seek one of their biggest results in their history.

No fear

"We are well aware of the massive threats Manchester United possess,” he added. "They have tremendous players and an outstanding manager but we have got to belief and go there with no fear factor.

"The club has done really well in the cup competitions in the last few seasons and this is another opportunity. "It’s a big step up but we can’t be fearful. It’s what we are striving for and where we want to be long-term, so let’s go and enjoy the occasion.”

For all United’s pedigree in the Cup, they haven’t lifted the trophy since beating Millwall in the 2004 final.

And beleaguered boss van Gaal is targeting a decent run to ease the pressure on his position and set up the chance of a first piece of silverware of his Old Trafford reign.

The Dutchman is expected to pick a strong side against the Blades and Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera should feature as he sets his sights on winning his first honour in English football.

"It’s different to the Spanish Cup because it’s more about the knockout situation,” Herrera said. "In Spain we play two legs in the cup, so it’s good that it can be down to just one game here -– it makes it very emotional.

Van Gaal will be without injured defenders Luke Shaw, Marcos Rojo, Antonio Valencia and Phil Jones through injury, but midfielder Jesse Lingard could return.