David Bentley claims that Blackburn Rovers are ready to cement their status as the big four’s bogey team against Manchester United on Sunday. Mark Hughes’s men face a rampant United at Old Trafford, with Sir Alex Ferguson’s team having rattled in four goals per match in five of their past six games.

Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tévez and Cristiano Ronaldo have overcome their slow starts to the season by leading United’s scoring in recent weeks. However, Bentley, the England winger, insists that Blackburn have nothing to fear against the defending champions. The 23-year-old is confident that United will suffer the same fate as their title rivals against Blackburn after his side gained draws at home to Arsenal and Liverpool and away to Chelsea this season.

“We’re buzzing and full of confidence going into the United game and, although nobody will expect us to get anything, we do expect to,” he said. “It will be difficult and we’ll talk about how to approach the game, but we’re definitely confident. We’ve taken points off three of the big four this season and it will be nice to make it the full set against United.

“We’ll only get two or three chances at a place like Old Trafford, but if we take them, then who knows? The way we are defending, we can go there and not concede any goals. We don’t lose many games and things are looking good for us.”

Blackburn have emerged as the team most likely to challenge the established big four for a Champions League qualifying place this season and Bentley says that there is a belief within the squad that Blackburn are capable of sustaining their challenge.

“We’ve been winning games even when we haven’t played especially well, so we’re all really happy with the way it’s going,” he said. “With the sort of players we have here and the manager, we should be at the top end of the table for the whole season. We’ve only lost twice in 20-odd games and the whole club is on a high at the moment.”

Bentley struck a hat-trick for Blackburn in a 4-3 win over United at Ewood Park in February last year and he is determined to claim another this weekend. “I’ve scored goals against United before and hopefully there could be another one for me on Sunday,” he said.