Wes Brown is eager to make the most of his Manchester United opportunities before his advancing years catch up with him. Now past his 31st birthday and with his present contract due to expire at the end of next season, Brown is not sure how much time he has left at Old Trafford.

Given his lack of first-team opportunities in recent times, it could even be that Brown leaves Old Trafford during one of the next two transfer windows. However, while he still has a job to do for Sir Alex Ferguson, he will continue to perform it, which will probably involve a Carling Cup quarter-final outing at West Ham tomorrow night.

"I am not getting any younger now and every game I do play I just try to enjoy and do my best for the team," he said. "You have to give everything for the cause. That is the most important thing for me."

Brown has missed three games since his involvement in a run of six games from seven came to an end following the scrappy display at Aston Villa earlier this month.

You have to give everything for the cause. That is the most important thing for me.
Wes Brown, Manchester United

Brown is a Carling Cup ever-present this season, though, skippering United to victory over Wolves in the last round and it would be no surprise he was handed the armband again as Ferguson makes an anticipated large number of changes.

"It has been great to be back playing some games," said Brown. "I am really enjoying things at the moment. I am training hard and hopefully I will have more opportunities in the coming months."

Brown is likely to fill the right-back berth at Upton Park, as two of what could be as many as 11 changes to Ferguson's starting line-up from the seven-goal mauling of Blackburn are expected to be in central defence. After their fine performance at Rangers last week, Jonny Evans and Chris Smalling should get a chance to continue that momentum at Upton Park. It was a role Brown thought he would fill earlier in his career but more recently he has been a full-back, where he starred in the 2008 UEFA Champions League final win over Barcelona. Not that the proud Mancunian is concerned. He is just happy to make a contribution, aware that hours of repetitive work on the training ground involve a team effort rather than purely individuals.

"Staying focused is the most important thing when it comes to defending," he said. "We do a lot of repetitive drills in training to help you do that. We have this thing called wave games, where we basically attack and defend, over and over again. It helps drill it into your head what you need to do in one-on-one situations."

Amongst the other players set to feature at Upton Park are Javier Hernandez, whose injury-time winner over Wolves took United into the last eight, Bebe, Gabriel Obertan and Darron Gibson. A change in goal is anticipated too, with Tomasz Kuszczak - who is most under threat from the arrival of Anders Lindegaard - and Ben Amos both hoping to replace 40-year-old Edwin van der Sar. Having won the tournament for the past two seasons, United are eager to extend that record and register a fifth win in the competition, which would equal Aston Villa and leave them just two adrift of Liverpool.

Although it is small achievement in comparison to the major targets of regaining the Premier League title and reaching a UEFA Champions League final that will be held at Wembley next May, for Michael Carrick, it is another example of the indelible marks United want to make.

"We set standards here," he said. "They have been set by different teams over the years and it carries on through each season. We want to try and reach those standards as often as possible.

"Sometimes you can't do it, but when it does comes together, like it did against Blackburn on Saturday, you get the feeling you should be doing it more often. That is what we strive for week after week, to try and get the right performance as well as the result," said Carrick.