I’M ABSOLUTELY made up about the FA Cup draw which has handed us a fourth round tie with Manchester United at Anfield.

I know we could have got an easier game but if we’re going to win the Cup then we’re probably going to have to face United sooner or later.

I think it’s a cracking tie and it’s payback time after they knocked us out last season.

There’s nothing to fear and with home advantage there’s no reason why we can’t knock United out.

We should have beaten them at Anfield in the league back in October when they were lucky to escape with a point. If we had won that game by two or three goals, it wouldn’t have flattered us.

United have got some very good players but they aren’t a great side. We saw that against Man City on Sunday when they almost threw away a 3-0 lead against 10 men.

It shows how desperate they are that they’ve had to bring Paul Scholes out of retirement.

They’ve had to turn to a 37-year-old who hasn’t kicked a ball for eight months and I think Alex Ferguson might end up looking a bit stupid about that.

United got away with it against Man City but if we’re at our best we’ll be able to cause them a lot of problems.

Before that game we’ve got an important few weeks, starting at the Etihad Stadium tomorrow night in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final.

I said in last week’s column that I felt we had caught City at a good time and we ended up losing the league game 3-0!

But the scoreline last Tuesday night was harsh. I actually thought we did pretty well. We just didn’t have a cutting edge going forward.

If Stewart Downing had put away that chance early on then it would have been a very different game.

All three of their goals came from our mistakes and we need to defend better.

City will be depleted tomorrow night as they won’t have the Toure brothers and Kompany will be sorely missed at the back.

Of course they still have some tremendous players with the likes of Silva and Aguero but I’m confident.

They have scored from corners in both the games against us so far this season but this time we can’t afford to hand them any gifts.

I think we can pose a real threat on the counter attack and when we get chances we need to be clinical.

If we concentrate for the full 90 minutes then we’ll have a great chance of getting through to Wembley.

A draw would be a really good result going into the second leg.

A solid defensive performance tomorrow is key to ensuring the stage is set for a very special night at Anfield in a fortnight.