United will travel across the Pennines on Sunday afternoon to face a Leeds side threatened with relegation. Last week’s 3-0 defeat at Everton has piled the pressure on the Whites. United meanwhile managed a morale-boosting win over Brighton in midweek to elevate themselves into the top four.

The German coach is though very aware of the way that Marcelo Bielsa’s team plays. Bielsa often encourages his team to play with speed and defend man-to-man, but Rangnick says they are vulnerable at the back.

“Leeds are a team that play with the highest amount of speed, so it’s important for us not to allow them to play like that,” said the United interim boss.

“Whenever they pass the ball they’re trying to increase the tempo of the game, another thing they’re very man orientated. They play with the highest amount of speed momentum tempo, we need to stop them doing that.

“Equally they concede a lot, only Norwich have conceded more.

“We are well prepared to play for 90 minutes and stick to the game plan.”

Leeds, who are six points above the drop zone, have conceded 46 goals in 23 games this season. Only Norwich (50) have conceded more.

Rangnick has admitted he did not know about the intense rivalry between the two sides until last week.

Asked about the nature of the rivalry between the two sides, he said: “I didn’t know that until a week ago. But most of my colleagues have indicated this is probably one of the biggest rivalries in the Premier League. And of course I had those local derbies in Germany – Schalke vs Borussia Dortmund as one example.

“Our team has a lot of experience playing in that atmosphere and it may raise their performance. Last year at Leeds it was behind closed doors. Everybody prefers to play in a sold-out stadium rather than an empty one and I’m looking forward to it.”

“It’s very important. Against Brighton we were struggling in the first half to get the ball but we must admit that Brighton did extremely well.

“This only changed int he second half when we took a risk and tried winning balls in their half. This will be the same against Leeds although they have a different approach. We will have to be proactive.

“It will be a different game. As will Atletico and Watford and we’ll have to take one game at a time.

“We have to play one after the other. We are fully aware the game at Leeds is an important one for us to stay where we are right now in the table we have to win that game.

“Then, three days later, we have an important one at Atletico Madrid in a competition we would also like to proceed into the next round. And then three days later, we have another important one at home against Watford.

“We take one by the other. Therefore, we are grateful we have more players available again.”