Boss wary of buoyant Spurs

Tottenham will go into Sunday’s FA Cup fourth round tie at Old Trafford on the crest of a wave, according to Sir Alex Ferguson.

Juande Ramos’ side hammered bitter rivals Arsenal 5-1 on Tuesday to book a berth in the Carling Cup final, and the United manager expects the Londoners to be galvanised by their morale-boosting victory.

“You saw from their performance on Tuesday night, they’re on the up,” Sir Alex told his pre-match press conference. “There’s an increase in their performances. The result on Tuesday will have them buoyed, there’s no question about that.

“It wasn’t Arsenal’s strongest team, but it was nevertheless an emphatic 5-1 victory. I thought Tottenham were better. They could have scored more goals. It was an emphatic victory and I don’t think Arsenal could complain about it.”

With Spurs improving by the week and goals usually at a premium when the two sides meet at Old Trafford, Sir Alex is wary of a tough test on Sunday.

“Funnily enough, the goalscoring statistics at Old Trafford aren’t great, they’re usually 1-0 or something like that,” he said. The goals are usually reserved for White Hart Lane, there have been some very big scores down the years.

“It’ll be tight cup tie again, I would think, but I can’t complain – I have a home draw in the FA Cup. What more can you ask for? You’ve got to perform, you can’t take things for granted and we don’t either. But our team is in good form.”