Rio Ferdinand is concerned Tottenham will bully Manchester United and win the Europa League.
Spurs and United face off in Bilbao on Wednesday night as they bid to turn miserable domestic campaigns into a season to savour with European silverware.
Both teams find themselves languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League table, with United sitting 16th and Spurs toiling in 17th.
Such are their struggles, it has proved the predicting the winner a tough task. And Ferdinand fears Spurs may have the edge.
Anyone who’s surprised if we don’t win this game against Spurs is a lunatic, in my eyes
"The worrying thing for me from a Man United perspective is that physically we can’t keep up with any team in the Premier League," Ferdinand told talkSPORT.
"If they go man-to-man and go toe-to-toe with us, we’re at a disadvantage because our profile of our players at Man United are not players that can run as hard and as fast, and as long, and they’re not as powerful as other teams.
"That’s a big thing in the Premier League. In the Europa, we’re overpowering every team. There’s only one team I’ve watched us play against in the Europa League that we struggled against and thought, 'Ooh, that was a bit too close for comfort.' Rangers, who are more akin to a Premier League side, physically.
"So that’s the concern for me in the final playing against a Premier League team, who have beaten us three times, that physically can, minimum, match us."
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Ferdinand is careful not to go as far as predicting a Spurs defeat, but does believe it would be no surprise to see the north London side end their 17-year trophy drought on Wednesday evening.
"I have to be honest, I can’t call a Man United result. They’re so inconsistent, or they have consistently been bad in the Premier League," he told Optus Sport.
"But the fact that they are playing against Spurs, another consistently bad team in the Premier League. But they have players who can win a match. It makes it such a hard game to call.
"I don’t think the fans can be too surprised. They beat us three times already this season, so it’s not going to be a surprise if they beat us a fourth time.
"I think it’s only going to be stupid people that are going, “Oh my god, I can’t believe this.”
"We’re 16th because we’ve lost a lot of games. 18 Premier League games we’ve lost this season. Anyone who’s surprised if we don’t win this game against Spurs is a lunatic, in my eyes."
