Speaking to the club's official website, the Fulham boss said a goalless draw at Liverpool and progression in the Carabao Cup have lifted the mood at Motspur Park before the last game ahead of the international break.
“It’s obviously important winning games,” Arbeloa acknowledged. “I think it’s the most important thing, and we have been talking for the last two or three weeks how important winning games is, even when you are doing a lot of things very well, you need to get points. And after that victory against West Ham, I think it has been a good week for us.
“And now we are preparing for the game against Man United, and we are still believing that we can beat them, if we do a very good match from the first minute, and we know that we have to play at our best level – same level that we saw at Anfield – and that’s our target.”
It has been a rougher week for Michael Carrick’s side, who went out of the Carabao Cup after squandering a two-goal lead following a controversial defeat in the Manchester derby. Arbeloa, though, laughed off any suggestion that this was a good moment to face them.
“When I see the players that they have, you can see they can win the game in one second,” he stated. “[Marcus] Rashford, [Matheus] Cunha, Bruno [Fernandes], [Youri] Tielemans, even the full-backs, they like to go forward.
“They have very talented and top players and, of course, they are Man United, so you know what it means, and like I said before, if we want to beat them – and we believe that we can beat them – we need to play at the very high level that we did at Anfield for 90 minutes.
“And even doing that, we couldn’t beat Liverpool, we couldn’t beat Chelsea, and I think in both games, we did really well. So, we are facing one of the best teams in the world, we know that, and we need to be ready.”
Fulham are still waiting for their first Premier League win, and Arbeloa was asked what one against United would mean.
“I think it will be so important. Not for me – for my team, for my players. I think I am not the important one here.
“Fulham is important, and I think our supporters deserve one victory against Man United. I know that is so difficult, and the last time that we beat them here at Craven Cottage was too many years ago, so we will give our best and try to give them a victory.”