Ole Gunnar Solskjaer accepts Manchester United's quest for FA Cup glory will have to be earned "the hard way" as he prepares for a fifth-round clash at Chelsea on Monday.
United's reward for overcoming Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in the last round is a second trip to London to take on another of their Premier League top-four rivals.
But Solskjaer pointed out that the first of his two triumphs in the competition as a player – as part of United's memorable treble in 1999 – was equally as onerous.
United's interim manager said: "In '99 we beat them down at Stamford Bridge to get to the final. And we beat Arsenal and Liverpool as well.
Solskjaer was in attendance as the Blues were hammered 6-0 by Manchester City last Sunday, a loss that came less than two weeks after a 4-0 humbling at Bournemouth.
Solskjaer added: "I went to see them against City and City were clinical, of course. But they've got some fantastic players, Chelsea as well.
"They could have scored two or three easily in the first half as well in that game. There are fine margins. They could easily have been two or three up against Bournemouth as well when they lost 4-0.
"It's those little things that decide games. They have been up and down, but down there they're a tough team to play."
Former United winger Angel Di Maria provided both assists in PSG's victory on Tuesday night, returning to haunt his old club after a largely uninspiring 12 months at Old Trafford.
United paid a then British record £59.7million for the Argentinian in August 2014 and have since spent heavily on the likes of Paul Pogba, Martial and Romelu Lukaku.
The trio have had varying degrees of success and, when asked whether United's challenge was not their outlay but finding a way to accommodate all their talent, Solskjaer responded: "You want to get the best out of your best players, of course.
"That's a challenge all the time because we've got so many players. You don't just put every single good player in their preferred position, we need to have a system that we start from.
"But there are a couple of players that you might want to build your team around."
