Stoke City's Danny Higginbotham has regularly sampled defeat at Old Trafford, but the Reds' Academy graduate admits there are few better feelings than returns to M16.

The 29-year-old defender left United in 2000 with seven senior appearances under his belt. He's since been back at Old Trafford with Derby, Southampton and Sunderland, and he's relishing another outing against his boyhood side this weekend.
"I still support United," Danny told ManUtd.com. "To be able to go and play in front of such a large crowd, at a big stadium, against your boyhood team, it doesn’t get much better.
"At the end of the day it’s a football match, and you can’t let sentiment get in the way of that, but it's still always a great feeling to go back and play at Old Trafford."

Higginbotham has sampled defeat on four of his five previous returns, but holds fond memories of the other occasion - Derby's dramatic victory over the Reds in May 2001, a result which kept the Rams in the Premier League.

"When I first went back with Derby it was special," he said. "It was the next-to-last game of the season and we needed a win to stay up, and we won 1-0. Everybody was celebrating on the day because we’d stayed up and United had already won the league.

"I’ve had a few hammerings since, though, and it's always really tough against United. They're a great team with an unbelievable work ethic, and I believe they can win the Premier League and the Champions League again this year - they’re that good."