Dimitar Berbatov has warned Manchester United not to underestimate Fulham, pointing towards the quality of Willian, Dan James, Andrea Pereira and Bernd Leno as reasons to be concerned.
United travel down to London on Sunday for their final Premier League fixture before domestic football comes to a halt for a month for the World Cup. Erik ten Hag's side have the chance to end the first half of the season on a high but it will be no easy task.
Fulham have enjoyed a great return to the top flight and look likely to finally make their stay longer than a single season. They currently sit ninth in the table and only lost to Manchester City last weekend through a last-gasp penalty.
ALSO READ: Ten Hag indicates who his first-choice striker is
The Cottagers will be without star striker Alexsandar Mitrovic for the match due to injury but still have plenty of players that Berbatov has cautioned United to be wary of.
“Obviously, [Aleksandar] Mitrovic is the main guy who's scoring the goals,” the Bulgarian told United's in-house media. “Willian, everyone knows that he's a major player in the Premier League. Bernd Leno in the goal, for sure.
“Andreas Pereira, we all know about him. Daniel James, as well, another ex-Red. So there is a quality in the team, and I'm not surprised, to be honest, that they're doing fine at the moment. But we all know the Premier League is a long journey, so they need to be careful.
“From my time, I know that, if you're not careful, if you underestimate Craven Cottage and Fulham, you're going to have a problem.
“Fulham is a good club. At the moment, I think they have great players actually, and they're doing fine for the moment. I guess United are going to have a tough task on their hands, for sure.”
Pereria struggled for years to establish himself in the United side but is having a great season since making a permanent switch to Fulham in the summer and Berbatov - who spent two years at Craven Cottage - is delighted to see him doing well. He continued: “Sometimes in the career of a player, obviously, you have moments where you don't play enough, [or] as much as you want.
“So then you need to look for a place where you go and you're going to play and you show that you have the quality; that you have what it takes to play regularly. I'm happy for him, that's why I mention him. I'm happy that he's playing and I hope that he continues the same way. That's why I say Daniel James as well – another ex-Red.
“I wish them luck. Because I don't want to see Fulham, with my history, again going down into the Championship. They need to stay in the Premier League, no matter what.”
READ MORE:
