Jose Mourinho has blitzed through any complacency in his Chelsea dressing room by warning his men: "The giant is sleeping."
Mourinho's Blues have the chance to end any fleeting hope of Manchester United getting back into the title race with victory over the struggling champions at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
But, after insisting David Moyes' men will be arriving in SW6 as wounded animals still capable of dealing a fatal blow, Mourinho predicted they would oust Liverpool or Arsenal for a top four finish.
"When a giant is sleeping, the giant is never sleeping. Be careful," said the Special One.
"On many occasions, the team that looks to be in the most difficult situation is the team that appears stronger in that match. That's why this game is especially dangerous for us.
"David is the right guy for the job. With the stability they are going to give him for sure, he will get results as the consequence of his quality and the consequence of the stability.
"Some people might be saying this is the weakest United side in the Premier League. If that's what they think, they must show me their garbage box! If United have an average squad... wow!
"Their transfers since the summer have been criticised but do you believe they are not working on that? I believe they are working on that. I believe they have the targets clearly identified. I believe that, instead of bringing players in now, they'd rather wait a little bit more to bring exactly what they want.
"They'd prefer to wait a bit more and bring in exactly what they want. Sooner or later - sooner is now, later is in the summer - they will bring exactly the players David wants, players who will be important in the team.
"If you ask my opinion, despite the table now, I keep thinking they will be in the top four.
"Even if they don't make it - and I think they will - every player knows it's an occasional situation. It's not a situation that will last for ever. It's not a situation where a player will think, 'If I go to Manchester United, for two, three or four years, I don't play Champions League football'.
"I know what happened at Liverpool, that they've been out for four years, but not United."
Mourinho, whose first spell in charge of the west Londoners began with a 1-0 win over Sir Alex Ferguson's United, can clock up his 100th Premier League victory this weekend.
When Chelsea went to Old Trafford in August for the reverse fixture, Mourinho played without a true striker and ground out a dour goalless draw.
This time, he will go for the jugular, but insisted: "It's not about them. It's about us. We are living a good moment, playing with some stability.
"If the game was at Old Trafford now, I'd go in a different way. But that was the first away game of the season, at Old Trafford and it was important not to lose. In the end, a point was not a bad point. It's always a point."
The Blues boss will resist the temptation to give new £21million recruit Nemanja Matic his first start "out of respect for the other players", while Frank Lampard is available.
Mourinho added: "Of course we can afford to draw, or lose. I know it's tight, but everybody [in title contention] will lose matches, I believe - with so many direct duels. Let's see what's going to happen... unless Man City win every game and kills everybody by 20 points!"