Maurice Edu believes Rangers can surprise Manchester United

Published on Wednesday 8 September 2010 17:03

Rangers will experience contrasting expectations in their next two fixtures, and in some ways Maurice Edu, the Ibrox midfielder, feels the SPL trip to Hamilton on Saturday is potentially more hazardous than the Champions League clash with Manchester United at Old Trafford on Tuesday night.

The American believes being labelled favourites against Accies is a more difficult scenario than travelling to Lancashire, where nothing is expected of Rangers. "I think those games where you go in as the favourite are sometimes more difficult than the game where you are the underdog," Edu said.

"There's a lot of pressure on you to go out and win that game because everyone expects that.

"People sell the other team short a little bit by making you the favourite. For the team that's the underdog, that adds a little bit of fuel to their fire, to turn heads, prove people wrong and show people that they deserve to be on the same pitch as the favourites. Every opponent's going to be different and in some ways you go about the game a little bit differently, but your mentality should be the same. You should go out there, leave it all out on the pitch and do everything within your power to try to win the game."

Despite the growing excitement ahead of the clash with Sir Alex Fergsuon's men, Edu insists the team's sole focus is on Saturday's match. He added: "The Old Trafford game is obviously going to be exciting and we're all looking forward to that, but at the same time you've got to take care of business before that.

"We're not looking past this game this weekend - that's our focus right now. After that game we'll turn our attention to the game at Old Trafford."

The United States international is, as an underdog, determined to prove Rangers are travelling south with a purpose. He added: "You've got to go into games believing in yourselves. If you don't then you've already lost half the battle. If you mention Manchester United around the world, everybody knows about the club and the history there and how good their team is.

"But we're going to go there and try and get something out of the game. We'll all be up for that game and aim for a positive result and come back with something." Edu was not involved in European competition for Rangers last season due to injury and admitted playing in Europe's elite competition was one of the reasons he moved to Glasgow.

"The Champions League is the best teams around the world and you always want to be involved in competitions like that," he said. "I knew coming to a club like Rangers I would get that opportunity. Unfortunately the first year we weren't involved and last year I missed out because of injury.Hopefully I can play my part this season and really enjoy it."

With Rangers Scotland's sole remaining representatives in European competition this season, Edu is also aware of the need for a strong showing.

"It is important because we're the only Scottish team still remaining in these competitions," he said. "It's definitely important we go out there and show well for the country and represent the club. You never know down the line this could prove to have some more significance than what we know now."

Edu hopes Rangers can extend their 100 per cent league record at New Douglas Park this weekend, although he expects Accies to be a difficult proposition.

"They're going to pose a problem for us," he added. "They're always a well-organised team and this game will be no different. It will be down to us to impose ourselves on the game early and try and dictate the tone of the game early on. I think we have enough within our squad to come up with a good result there, it's just a matter of imposing ourselves on the game."