LEAGUE CUP NONSENSE

Crystal Palace will be hoping to pulling off a major coup when they face Manchester United at Old Trafford next month.

United defender John O'Shea is convinced the Eagles will fly north in confident mood for the fourth round of the Carling Cup and will fancy their chances of getting through to the quarter-finals.

"I'm sure Iain Dowie will have his team wound up because they will be coming here thinking United might not have their full strength team out.

"You never know what the team might be, and they will fancy getting a big scalp.

"That's [a League Cup outing] how I got my chance, and it's how a lot of other players got their chances. I think we were the first club to kind of get that ball rolling, giving young players a chance.

"Soon enough Arsenal and the other teams followed and it is always a good chance to test out young players to see how they cope with the big crowd and things like that.

"We will be looking to do the same as we did the other night when we finished off Crewe because we are playing at home.

"We're happy with it because we're playing at home and that is a big advantage to us and when you're looking at Crystal Palace they are not one of the major teams in the Premiership but they'll really excited about the prospect of coming to Old Trafford twice this season.”

Gerard Pique reckons he made the right choice by opting for Old Trafford instead of staying at Barcelona after he made his first senior appearance at Crewe.

"I don't think I would have had this opportunity at Barcelona. At 17, I would be playing for Barca C. No-one would have given me the opportunity to play in the professional team. Every time I am more convinced I made the right decision.”