Yorke: Play Like It's 1999

Dwight Yorke is hoping history will be repeated on Easter Monday when Manchester United visit Chelsea for an FA Cup quarter-final replay - a fixture he helped the Reds to win in the famous Treble season.

The Reds travel to Stamford Bridge on the back of an initial draw at Old Trafford, something which also happened in 1998/99 when Sir Alex Ferguson’s side went on to record a 2-0 triumph in West London thanks to a perfect counter-attacking display and two fine goals from Yorke.

The Trinidad and Tobago legend feels the pressure was on Chelsea to progress that day and when asked if Monday’s meeting is similarly poised, the 41-year-old was clear in his assessment.

“I think so,” Dwight told ManUtd.com. “The onus is on Chelsea to make sure they win. They have to make sure that they move forward and take the game to United. We like to play on the counter, we have a decent record there and I’m sure the manager and the players will take heart from that.

“During my time as a player, we had to go there and take on Chelsea in their own backyard. We drew 0-0 at home and then went there knowing that they had a very good team.

“Myself and Andy Cole were reintroduced back into the team and we were so confident at that time. We knew that if we played with the kind of intensity and quality that we had within the team then we would overcome Chelsea and we did that.

“I was very fortunate that I got both goals and the [baby cradling] celebration with Becks [David Beckham] was great with his son Brooklyn being born a few days earlier. A whole bunch of stuff was happening at the time, it was great, so let’s hope the boys can go there and repeat the success on Monday.”

Andy Cole, who will rekindle his iconic partnership with Yorke this summer for the ‘Red Heart United’ charity legends match against Real Madrid, also has fond memories of that triumphant '99 night at Stamford Bridge and feels confident the Reds can grab a similar result to march into the semi-finals.

Cole said: “I was speaking to Denis Irwin about the match recently - we felt Chelsea were very cock-a-hoop when they came to Old Trafford and got a draw. Ahead of the replay, it was as if they thought ‘we’ll do them at Stamford Bridge’. I actually remember the game like it was yesterday.

“Yorkie got both of the goals and we caused Frank Leboeuf and Marcel Desailly to have absolute nightmares. I really enjoyed that game because we got in amongst it, it got a bit physical, but we stood up for ourselves and ended up 2-0 winners. Don’t be surprised if the Reds do it again on Monday.”