Manchester United news: Ander Herrera warns Tottenham they will make an example of them

Herrera sees the lunchtime battle with Mauricio Pochettino’s in-form team as one of the key games of the season and believes victory will give United a huge lift for the rest of the season.

The goal-less bore-draw at Liverpool and shock defeat by Huddersfield have left Jose Mourinho’s team with a five-point gap to make up on runaway leaders Manchester City.

If they lost to Spurs and then again to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in their next League game, that gap could stretch to 11 points before the November international break.

Midfielder Herrera said: “Tottenham are a direct rival every season. In the last two or three years they have improved a lot and they are contenders for everything; the Champions League, the Premier League and for both cups.

“We saw the game they played with Real Madrid last week and they were not worse than them, so that means they are ready for anything. It will be a big statement if we beat them.

“Spurs are very organised, they play really good football and they have players who can score – Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli, Son Heung-min. Even their full-backs are very offensive.

“It’s going to be very, very difficult but we play at home in front of our fans and we have to try to win. We want to move forward because this club is all about fighting for everything and we are still in four competitions.

“It is a massive game and our fans have to realise we need them on Saturday. We need them to push us to try and win the game because Tottenham are a top team. It will be very tough but we have to try and win first of all because Spurs are a direct rival for the title and secondly because we play at home.”

Herrera admitted it was important that United returned to winning way by beating Swansea in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday following the lacklustre setback at Huddersfield.

And he stood by his honest criticism of the performance against the newly-promoted Terriers which was questioned by Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs.

“In the first 30 minutes Huddersfield had a better attitude than us,” said Herrera. “That’s what I said and that’s what happened. You cannot play every game of the season at your best and you can’t always win 4-0. After that defeat we needed good feelings back.

“When you lose a game you want to play as quick as possible – and play well – and we did that against Swansea. I think we played with composure and the kids were brilliant. Players like Axel [Tuanzebe] and Scott [McTominay] can really help us.”

Untied expect to be boosted by the return of Eric Bailly and Phil Jones to the centre of their defence as they bid to stop Harry Kane’s hot streak.