The Cottagers coming to Old Trafford should not be a problem this weekend, even without Wazza. I don’t really want to go into his ban because that would just get me into trouble. All I will say is everybody hates United but we don’t care. We can still go onto win the League, the FA Cup and with a little luck the European Cup. The Gaffer will use all of these negative stories and bans to concentrate the players on the matter in hand, winning football matches.
The next football match won’t be easy, as Sparky always wants to get one over on us. He will have his team well disciplined, organised and set up to hit us on the counter attack with players like Duff, Dempsey and Zamora. It has worked for other clubs in the past and it probably means unless we get an early goal it might be a long afternoon. However I am very confident we will eventually break them down and our class will show with players like Nani, Valencia and Berba in the side. This ban also means the Little Pea gets another game, which everybody knows by now… He’s guaranteed to score. Come on United!!!!!
DANGER MAN: Bobby Zamora
Sparky has always liked a target man; he used to have Santa Cruz at Blackburn and now he’s got Zamora at Fulham. Bobby has been unlucky with injuries this season but after two goals last weekend against the Tangerines his confidence will be sky high and a trip to the Theatre of Dreams might just becoming at the right time for him. Everybody knows that if you can perform against United then you will get noticed and I am sure he still has ambitions’ of playing for England again. He’s good in the air and on the ground so our defence will have to keep a close eye on him, he might even score but I would expect us to run out comfortably in the end.
Prediction : We are going to win 4-1, Nani first goal!!!!
For Maysie’s other Premier League predictions, check out his United Nights Blog here
Selection :
I decided to tie in our selection preview with the Maysie preview of the Fulham game.
United should consider this game to be their “easiest” before the last game of the season. If we win (you may have heard me bang on about it on the Podcasts) we’ll be 10 points in front of Arsenal with the Gunners facing the psychological task of dragging themselevs back into a title race they probably don’t believe they can win.
This is one of those games – with all due respect to the opponent – where our focus is on the game in front, with United heavy favourites and concentrating on the Cottagers West London neighbours in midweek. Rooney’s absence through suspension means that Berbatov and Chicharito should lead the line though Michael Owen could feature from the start, with the Mexican’s shift on Wednesday night.
Anderson’s impressive brace for the reserves signals a return but even if he is around tomorrow I doubt he’ll start; and Nani is surely likely to be restored to the first team line up.
After Rafael’s injury I expect Fabio or Brown to start; I’ve plumped for Fabio in my predicted line up but it could go either way. There are many of these either/or decisions to be made. Kuszczak should play in goal and I would expect Ferdinand to start having played the 90 in midweek. Some may argue the need to use sparingly but what some players need is game time to shake off the rust. Likewise, Gibson may well feature in midfield but Carrick seems to be a machine uneffected by fatigue. Paul Scholes scored a stunner at Craven Cottage but was sensational himself – completing 87 of 97 attempted passes, and I expect him to play tomorrow and dictate the run of the game.
