Ruben Amorim makes Arsenal vow as Man Utd boss targets FA Cup triumph
Manchester United are set to take on Arsenal in the third round of the FA Cup on Sunday and Red Devils boss Ruben Amorim wants his side to go on and lift the trophy in May
by David McDonnell · The MirrorRuben Amorim has vowed to play his strongest Manchester United side in the FA Cup on Sunday – to try to build on their impressive draw at Liverpool.
United produced their best performance under Amorim with their 2-2 draw at Anfield last weekend, with the Portuguese coach keen to maintain the same belief and mentality at Arsenal. Against that backdrop, Amorim said he is unlikely to rotate at the Emirates Stadium and preserve players for United's upcoming Premier League games at home to Southampton and Brighton.
That is despite United languishing in 13th place in the Premier League table, just seven points above the relegation zone. “In this moment, I'm living day by day,” said Amorim. “What I'm thinking is that we have had one week without a game, we had a day off [after Liverpool] and we could work the team a little bit.
“So it doesn’t make sense to rest players now, for both of the games here, so we have to put out the best team and we have to follow the last performance. Now we are rotating less, although sometimes I have had to choose fresh legs. Now I feel they are at the same level.
“I didn’t rotate because I wanted to rotate, I was just trying to find the best solutions to win. I had some doubts and the guys who were more fresh were able to cope with the demands of the game.
“So I’m not thinking in that way. We are in a different moment now - we train and then we will focus on the next game, so my focus is more on the time of week and so I will choose the best team to win.
“We want to win the FA Cup and you never know what can happen in this type of competition. Sometimes it’s better to win this type of game, so my focus now is day by day and we just want to win this tie.”
Despite stating his intention to play his strongest team, Amorim confirmed back-up goalkeeper Altay Bayindir will play in place of Andre Onana. The United boss also said he had noticed a new-found sharpness about his players in training after the display at Liverpool.
“I felt it was different,” said Amorim. You can push them more, it’s easier and the environment is different, because they felt the confidence from the performance. But we have to show that in the next game, because we're focused on that. They are open to learning and that’s a good feeling this week.”
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