Andre Wisdom has encouraged Derby County to take their superb league form under the bright lights of Old Trafford when they face Manchester United in the Emirates FA Cup Third Round on Friday.
The Rams are unbeaten in their last seven games in the Sky Bet Championship, a run that has taken them to the automatic promotion places as the race to be facing the likes of Jose Mourinho’s side on a regular basis hots up.
Wisdom is under no illusions to the challenge that Derby face, but he is sure that every player will be looking forward to the task as well as the possibility of producing an upset.
Speaking to RamsTV, he said: “We know what they’re capable of, I think everybody does but we need to have fun, enjoy it and hopefully we can get a good result.
“Hopefully the fans will bring an atmosphere, and it’s a one-off so we have to go there and give our all.
“Anything can happen, especially in the FA Cup so all of the boys are looking forward to it.”
All eyes will be on the hosts, especially after their defeat to Derby’s second-tier rivals Bristol City in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup in December.
The full-back believes that result could provide extra motivation for United, and that is something that Gary Rowett’s side will need to be ready for.
“It probably makes it harder because they’re thinking that if Bristol City can beat them, they definitely won’t want Derby to as well,” he added.
“It’ll be tough, they were away at Bristol so in their home stadium they will probably have more of the ball and their fans will provide a bit more encouragement.”
From the right flank, Wisdom offers an attacking threat to compliment the forwards that Rowett selects, but it’s fair to say that his style of defending could be described as ‘no-nonsense’.
The former Liverpool man gave an insight to his mindset when he is one-on-one with an opponent.
He said: “If I’m playing with my mates in the park, I don’t want one of my mates taking me on, so I definitely don’t want 75,000 people to see that I’ve been taken on, it’s not a good feeling.
“I try to scare people, I’ll just look at them and I think: ‘If you take me on, I’m going to smash you’.”
“It usually works! I probably should have been born 50 years earlier, I think my type of football would have been more acceptable.”
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