Thibaut Courtois: 'Fellaini can only hurt us if we let him'

Thibaut Courtois has warned his Chelsea teammates that they must shackle the "very dangerous" Marouane Fellaini in Manchester United's trip to Stamford Bridge.

Both sides square off this evening as the Blues hunt a victory that would take them 11 points clear of United in third and 10 ahead of second-placed Arsenal.

The Belgian midfielder has emerged as a prominent figure for the Red Devils this season and has impressed during their recent six-game winning streak.

Courtois knows all about his Belgium teammate, and says that Chelsea must be "attentive" in their bid to combat him tonight.

"He is obviously very strong and dangerous with his head. He's a real box-to-box player, he can be in defence and five seconds later upfront and scoring," the goalkeeper told Sporting Telenet.

"You have to be very attentive. Manchester United have a lot of other good players to decide a match, so we are not completely focused on Fellaini.

"But we know that when he comes into the box, he is very dangerous, so I will probably have to come out to collect crosses into the box. Of course, we know about him and hope to keep him out."

Fellaini was on target in United's 4-2 win over Manchester City last weekend.