Crystal Palace defender Joachim Andersen has sent mixed messages to international teammate Rasmus Hojlund ahead of Crystal Palace’s trip to Manchester United in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday evening.
The Eagles head to Old Trafford twice in the space of five days as they look for a cup and then Premier League upset against Erik ten Hag’s inconsistent Red Devils.
Hojlund is building close to full fitness having started Saturday’s victory at Burnley after making a cameo off the bench at Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Plenty of pressure has already been heaped on the 20-year-old, mainly due to his £72million price tag, although the young striker did manage to grab his first Red Devils goal in the loss to Bayern.
One player very much in his corner is Palace star Andersen, with the pair teammates with the Denmark national team.
However, the Eagles star is confident he has what it takes to get the better of Hojlund, despite rating the United new boy very highly.
He told the official Palace site: “It’s going to be fun to play against him!.
“He’s a young lad with a good character, a lot of energy and really good attributes. He’s quick, he’s strong and he has a lot of energy.
“It’s not easy to play against a player like him and I think his start [in England] has been really good. He scored last week so I’m really happy for him.
“Hopefully he’ll score a lot of goals for our national team… but I think I can handle him in the games we’re going to play against each other!”
Eagles have their own forward threats
Palace have actually had decent success against United in recent times, winning three of the last eight contests.
Indeed, the last time the two teams met in the League Cup it was the Selhurst Park outfit who stunned Sir Alex Ferguson’s men 2-1 in 2011.
Roy Hodgson’s side are also just a point behind United in the league and, as Andersen points out, have talented forwards of their own.
“[Eberechi] Eze is really difficult with his skills. He’s really good at dribbling. Jordan Ayew is really strong,” the 27-year-old added.
“I don’t know if I’ve experienced something like that [playing the same fixture twice in a week] before. Of course it’s difficult to play two games at Old Trafford in one week, but it is what it is.
“Hopefully we can get some good results. It’s a lot of travel in one week, but that’s how it is!”
