De Gea Ready For Black Cats Test

Manchester United will be aiming to ease the pain of the FA Cup defeat to Swansea City with a positive performance and result in tonight’s Capital One Cup semi-final first leg.

But goalkeeper David De Gea, who was rested for Sunday’s setback against the Swans, knows the Reds are in for a tough encounter against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

The teams have faced each other already this season, in October’s league game, when it took two Adnan Januzaj goals – his first for the club – to rescue the points after United fell behind to an early Craig Gardner goal for an inspired Black Cats side.

"They are a very competitive team; they always give their all on the pitch," De Gea told MUTV. "They’ve already made it difficult for us when we played there in the league.

"They have great support from their fans, who get right behind the team and are very passionate indeed. It’ll be a tough night because, added to that, it’s a semi-final, so we need to try to get a good result there."

David Moyes’ men are yet to concede a goal in the League Cup this season and David was asked which match he considered to be United’s best in the competition so far.

"The 1-0 home win against Liverpool [in September],” he said. "It was a difficult game that gave us the necessary momentum to stay strong in the competition.

"We are now in the semi-final and hope that everything goes as planned, so we can move on to the final."