‘Man U ready to purge City disaster’

MANCHESTER (AFP) ― Park Ji-sung is confident that Manchester United can prove their humbling by Manchester City is out of their system when they travel to Everton on Saturday.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson described last Sunday’s 6-1 home defeat to Roberto Mancini’s team as “our worst ever day.”

As always, Ferguson’s main concern is how his team respond to such a set-back and there are far easier Premier League assignments than a trip to Goodison Park.

United have not won there in their past three visits, conceding two late goals to lose 3-1 in February 2010 and two more to draw 3-3 last season.

At least there was no more embarrassment in the League Cup for United, who beat League Two side Aldershot 3-0 in midweek.

The United manager admitted the likes of Nemanja Vidic, Tom Cleverley and Park had pushed themselves forward with their performances in the cup.

He is sure to make changes from the shock defeat to City and South Korean winger Park, who has started only a handful of games this season, feels Everton is the ideal venue for United to show their character.

“We have to concentrate and everyone has to turn up to show the City game has not affected us. We have to get over that,” Park said.

“We have to put it right on the pitch and we have to prove it. It’s a very important game to us and we have to go there and fight to get the points.

“It’s not an easy game at Goodison Park, it’s always difficult there. Just look at last season, when we were winning 3-1 and in injury-time they scored two goals.

“As a team we have to fight, not just individually, so we can stop them as a team. Then we have to think about our attacking side as well as our defense.”

Park admits that United will be wary of their former striker Louis Saha, who has scored in each of his last two Everton appearances.

The Frenchman, 33, was allowed to leave Old Trafford in 2008 due to his persistent injury problems.

“We know his abilities are good when he’s fit,” Park warned. “Now he’s on form and he’s on fire, so we have to be aware of that. But we can deal with it because we know him.”

Jonny Evans is banned, while Ryan Giggs and Rafael are the only other regular first-team players that will miss the trip to Merseyside, with respective hamstring and shoulder problems.

After responding to a difficult start to the season with an improved run of form, Everton will go into the match on the back of a run of four defeats in five matches.

They had a frustrating exit in the League Cup in midweek, going out with a

2-1 defeat to Chelsea in extra time.

But in the league, they have stifled Manchester City and Chelsea for long periods and Sylvain Distin is confident they can carry that stubbornness into the United game.

The French defender, 33, said: “So far this season we’ve played a lot of big teams, maybe two contenders to win the league and Liverpool too.

”Now we’re out of the cup after playing almost two hours, and then we have Manchester United on Saturday which won’t be easy. You come off a long game like that with nothing so it’s tough.

“It’s all about recovering for Saturday now. No matter how disappointed we are, we have to recover and turn the page for United.”