Chris Hutchings jokingly suggests that Bradford City have been thinking of building a brick wall in front of their goal to keep out Manches-ter United at Old Trafford tonight (8pm).

But the Bantams boss adds: "David Beckham would still curl one of his free kicks around it."

It is indicative of Hutchings' relaxed style of management that he can joke about the tough nature of City's task against the defending Premiership champions, but behind his friendly exterior is a steely determination to cause an upset.

Hutchings will not give any clues about his team or the formation they will play, but City may well adopt the formation of five in midfield with Dean Windass up front that served them so well in the first half at Liverpool on the opening day of the season. There they not only stifled Liverpool but created some chances of their own, before the home side got on top in the second half.

Hutchings said: "Whether we play with the same formation remains to be seen, but I was delighted with the first 45 minutes at Anfield."

Hutchings knows City have to be resolute in defence but admits it is difficult to hold out for 90 minutes.

"We will go there to be positive," he insists. "You can only defend for so long because teams will create chances against you.

"It is how we deal with it defensively and how we cope under pressure.

"We also have to make sure we take our chances when we create them.

"United have fantastic support and Old Trafford is a fantastic stadium in which to play football. But we have got the players who have been there, seen it and done it, so it will be nothing new to them. The players know what they have to do and it is a question of whether we can perform to the best of our ability on the day.

"We are under no illusions about how difficult it is going to be.

"Anyone who finishes above Manchester United will probably win the league. They have a fantastic squad with world class players."

City will be without defender Andrew O'Brien, who has a broken collar bone, midfield player Jamie Lawrence, who has a hip injury, and striker Dean Saunders who will see a specialist after suffering a recurrence of his knee trouble.