After an imperious display in the Champions League against AC Milan, it’s back to the bread and butter of the Premier League as Fulham make the trip up north to face Manchester United, a team they inflicted a 3-0 drubbing to, in December.
Confidence will surely be sky-high following the 4-0 victory over Milan and Wayne Rooney will be looking to add to his 30 goal tally this season. The omens are good for United as Fulham have only won once at Old Trafford in 47 years, that was a 3-1 victory in 2003.
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The Champions League rolls around once more and Manchester United will host an AC Milan side looking to overturn a 3-2 deficit from the first leg in the San Siro.
United should start with a very familiar back five. Edwin van der Sar will continue in goal after a steady performance against Wolves. He will be behind a back four of Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Rafael. The young Brazilian will get the nod ahead of Gary Neville as Wes Brown is out for six weeks with a broken foot.
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After picking up the first trophy of the season in last weekends Carling Cup final, in the process retaining the trophy and becoming the first side ever to do so. The week has since been littered with talk of the Glazers and a possible takeover from ‘the Red Knights’. Whether this will emerge as a reality remains to be seen, but one thing is certain, Wolves will be looking to take full advantage of any post-trophy winning complacency and financial speculation surrounding the club.
After midweek international duty many of the players will now have to focus on the game at Molineux against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
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Manchester United can go top of the Premier League on Saturday evening as the title race gets tight again.
Chelsea’s unexpected defeat to Manchester City threw the competition wide open again and there’s little to split the Reds and the Blues, and indeed Arsenal, in the betting on this season’s Premier League winner. Chelsea head the market at 2.7 (7-4) with United close behind at 2.74 (7-4) and the Gunners 3.85 (14-5) shots.
Wolves stand between the Reds and the summit this weekend and the odds suggest the champions will get their own way – the home team are an enormous 12 (11-1) to win with Betfair. Faithful United backers can get 1.37 (4-11) while the draw trades at 5.3 (9-2).
Those short odds on a Reds win are unsurprising as Mick McCarthy’s men are stuck in rut with just one league win this year. By contrast, United are top of the form table with four victories and a draw from their last six games in England’s top division.
The Molineux outfit are the league’s lowest scorers with just 21 goals and will come up against the second most parsimonious backline on Saturday evening. The odds on a United clean sheet are tight at 1.92 (10-11) but they should be taken.
By and large Wanderers have kept things fairly tidy at the back, rarely getting hammered but never quite doing enough to snatch a share of the points or even taking all three. It’s likely they’ll lineup in a defensive formation, despite their chronic need for points. The Reds are likely to keep one eye on AC Milan’s Champions League visit and Fergie may pull one of two key performers off should United hold a two goal advantage. In short, don’t expect a heavy win.
With that in mind, a correct score bet of 2-0 appeals at 7 (6-1) as does the ‘draw/United’ half-time/full-time result at 4.7 (a little over 7-2).
United have failed to beat Villa twice already this season but the market takes its lead from the history books by rating the Reds 1.89 (10/11) favourites to win the Carling Cup final on Sunday.
Continue reading “United v Villa – Can the reds turn the tide around?”
So after a disappointing draw against Aston Villa, nearly a week has passed without seeing Manchester United in action, but a tough test is upon us. AC Milan are next up for Sir Alex Ferguson and his Red Army in the Champions League Second Round 1st Leg. With United at the San Siro first, it is sure to be a difficult tie.
Minds will surely be cast back to the last time the two sides met in 2007, United took a 3-2 lead back to Old Trafford and were very confident of finishing off the job in Manchester, only for Kaka, Gattuso, Pirlo et al to completely dismantle an inform United, utterly deflating them and producing a display akin to the great Milan side of the early 1990’s.
Other than 2007 the Rossoneri have dumped United out of Europe’s elite competition on three other occasions, – 1958, 1969 and 2005. So no matter what you have heard about Milan being a waning power and a team in decline, they will be dangerous, especially at home, there is no doubting that.
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A five-star showing and brilliant performances from the likes of Michael Carrick, Nani and of course Wayne Rooney. Sir Alex Ferguson must be rubbing his hands with glee as his team face Aston Villa at Villa Park tonight, the side are in full flow and finally look like a team of Champions.
Aston Villa have the best defence in the Premier League and will look to extinguish the majestic Wayne Rooney who is in superlative form. In a dress rehearsal for the Carling Cup in two weeks Manchester United will look to flex their muscles and exact revenge after Villa won 2-0 at Old Trafford in December.
United will start the game with Edwin van der Sar, backed up by Tomasz Kuszczak as is the norm. In front of the Dutchman will likely be Rafael, Wes Brown, Jonny Evans and Patrice Evra. Rio Ferdinand is still suspended and Nemanja Vidic, though in the squad, is not fully recovered from his leg problem so may have to settle for a place on the bench.
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Right. It looks like our match previewer is AWOL so let’s keep it short here. Consider this an open discussion thread — predictions, pre-match whines, moans, cheers; everything.
We lost our last match against Villa, but this United side is streets ahead of the huffing, puffing, lump of blob that was getting by on crutches.
My prediction: 2-1 to United.
Take it away.
The first 3D football match and John Terry axed as England captain, football…bloody hell! Aside from drooling over the magnificent victory at the Emirates Manchester United must now refocus their thoughts as attention turns to the visit of the Premier League’s bottom side Portsmouth.
Avram Grant is probably on his way to another brothel to take his mind off the thought of the impending visit to Old Trafford. As United showed their superiority against Arsenal, a signal that the traditional New Year title push is underway, Portsmouth have on the other hand picked up one point in their last five games, are without a win since late October and have not beaten United in the League since 1957.
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We kick off today’s preview with a brief word on David Gill’s interview with BBC Sport [read it in full, here]
In the interview he talks Rooney, Ferguson, the ownership, the transfer funds, among other things, and it’s unlikely we’re bound to know something earth-shatteringly new. Such it goes.
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