Claudio Ranieri has called on his players to be soldiers as they prepare for another battle in the fight against relegation.
Manchester United arrive in SW6 as the Premier League’s form team, but Ranieri wants to see his troops make life as difficult as they can for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men.
“Now we know where we are,” Ranieri said. “We know it’s a very, very tough moment. We need soldiers who have to fight until the end. That is my opinion, my philosophy.
“We know we’re playing against a very big team who are fighting in the Champions League and to be in the Champions League next year. But we are ready to fight in every moment.
“We have to be positive. We have to fight because if you fight, you can lose. If you don’t fight, you have lost before you play. This is my mentality.
“At the end, if your opponent is better than you, well done to them, but I want to fight, I want to see my players fight until the end.
“And the fans, I think they will be happy if they see the players are fighting for every ball.”
One man who we could come up against is Anthony Martial, someone Ranieri knows well having brought him to AS Monaco in 2013.
“I signed him for five million,” he recalled. “For Monaco it was good business! He’s a very fantastic player.
“I watched him during the Under-21 match against Monaco Under-21s. I was very impressed by him. When there was the chance to buy him from Lyon, I said ‘take this guy because for me he’s good and he can have a very good future.’
“He came to Manchester as an experienced player, and has been fantastic - well done to him. He is a very good player, he can dribble, he can score the goals, he’s strong, has character, is fast.
“[But] there are so many players; Pogba, Rashford, Lukaku, Mata, Sanchez. So many. We must concentrate and be strong, positive, show our personality during all the match.”