PreMatch United Vs City

PreMatch: 

 vs

Old traford,

Manchester.

Kick-off : Sunday, 5:55 ( IST)

Manchester City fans will travel 4 miles on Sunday afternoon to witness 161^st Manchester Derby at Old Trafford. The Reds will entertain new table toppers City after their draw at Anfield last week against Liverpool, followed by City’s thrashing of Aston Villa side at Eastlands. In the past 37 years, City has only one league game at Old Trafford. Never did they win but in ‘07-‘08 just four days after the 50^th anniversary of Munich disaster. The most thrilling derby was played in ‘09 season when Owen scored in 5^th minute of the injury time to win the tie 4-3. 

Form:

United endured a difficult night in the UEFA Champions League, needing two Wayne Rooney penalties to defeat unfancied Otelul Galati and playing the last 25 minutes with ten men after Nemanja Vidic's controversial red card.

City also laboured towards a victory over Valencia, after an injury time winner by Sergio Augero, which keeps their qualification hopes alive in the champions group of death.

In the Premier League, United are going through slump in form, drawing two of their last three matches but still boast of unbeaten record in the current campaign. They are still unbeaten at Old Trafford for more than 18 months.

Apart from conceding just 4 goals in their last six games, City has managed to score more goals this season and boast of superior goal difference compared to United. They are unbeaten in last 4 away games in the league.

Injury Update:

Tom Cleverly is back in training but still may-not be fit for the match. Vidic also looked rusty in the mid-week Champions League fixture.

Mancini has full squad available for selection in this fixture.

Formation:

Since the last game, it will be interesting to watch, whether Sir Alex neutralizes the threat or plays their traditional 4-4-2 with Rooney playing a deeper role and Welbeck alone up –top.  Evans should retain his place in the centre of defence partnering Ferdinand. Smalling who played brilliantly against Downing should also keep his place. Maybe Jones will sit this one out, having started every game.

City will welcome back both Nasri and Silva in their starting line up after resting them for weekend fixture against Aston Villa. Augero could replace Balotelli up front after being a super- sub in the champions league fixture.

Probable XI:

Manchester United (4-4-1-1): De Gea, Smalling, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Young, Fletcher, Anderson, Nani, Rooney, Welbeck.

Manchester City: (4-3-2-1): Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Barry, De jong, Toure, Nasri, Silva, Augero.

Key Battles:

Both teams have rested their important player either in the midweek or in during weekend league fixture. There will more than one key player and battles in this fixture; Evra vs Silva, Smalling Vs Nasri, Young vs Clichy, Nani vs Richards, to name a few. Wide players have been very influential for both the teams and have been at their peak form. 

  

Nasri, Silva and Augero are creating and scoring goals for fun while same can be said for Nani, Rooney and Young. Particularly Silva, in last year derby was able to carve open United’s defence more than once in half first half. To that, City has added an equally brilliant individual Nasri on the opposite flank. Expect a cagey first half with both teams neutralising each other with tight man- marking. Game could well be decided by set- piece or by individual error.

Talks from both the Camps:

Nigel De Jong: “Of course everyone believes we can go there and win. We're going there as No 1 and the aim is to stay No 1.We are on top of the league so going into that game we just have to be confident and play our game as well as we have been doing. The pressure is still the same as it was last year. But what has changed is that we are now No 1 going into this derby. We don't have any point to prove. We've shown our quality throughout the season. We don't need a game against United to show how good we are. But it's two of the best teams in England going up against each other and I expect it to be a great game. Everyone was talking about that FA Cup semi-final but we proved we can win. Now we have to go into this game believing we can get the three points”

Ferguson already had Sunday's match against league Leaders City in his sights, on champion league night post match night, concluded that it was biggest league derby during his time at Old Trafford. "The last couple of years it has become more intense and a lot more importance has been attached to the games. With them top and us second, it builds up to a fantastic prospect for everyone. I'm looking forward to it."

Referee:

Your man in the middle for this one is Mark Clattenburg. He hasn’t officiated any of the United’s fixture this season but was the referee in City’s only draw this season, against Fulham at craven cottage. He ditched out five yellow cards in his previous game -QPR vs Blackburn.

Pre-Match: Liverpool Vs Manchester United

Pre-Match:

   vs

   

Anfield,

Liverpool

Kick-off : Saturday, 5:15pm (IST)

Premier League will kick start this weekend with one of the fiercest rivalries in English Football with Liverpool- hosting the North-West Derby, entertaining League Leaders and Defending Champions Manchester United in front the Kop in a Saturday lunchtime kickoff. After a drab week in absence of league football, it is Liverpool initiating the noises about abandoning equivalent sharing of TV rights going for individual selling as done in Spanish League. Certainly they feel threatened by huge influx of money in the Top six clubs and as well as constant funding to the so called “mid-table/ mediocre” clubs, which has made the league more competitive than ever.

For Liverpool Football Club, it will be a mammoth task to overtake their bitter rivals Manchester United in terms of number English title. But what they can do this weekend is let football do the talking (hopefully Gerrard will kiss the camera again for the billions of supporters all over the world) and halt United’s momentum ending their unbeaten run.

Form:

Form is out of the window; whenever and wherever there is derby game, teams already fired-up to out-performance their bitter rivals. Liverpool come into this game with job well done in their previous fixture- a Merseyside derby while United drew criticism for their average performance against Norwich. United still remain unbeaten in seven of their games, drawing just one. Liverpool have won four and lost two of their last six fixtures, also won the previous year’s fixture thanks to Dirk Kuyt hat trick, only the second-ever Premier League hat-trick by a player against Manchester United. One weakness displayed by Manchester United this term has been their inability to stop opposition sides creating chances.

The U-18 have already set the tone for this game; United making a comeback from 2 goals down to win it 3-2 in the FA Youth Cup Quarterfinal match. The entire game turned on its head with the award of a penalty and controversial red card for Stephen Sama and retake of penalty. Later, even though United were also reduced to ten men in comical circumstances immediately afterwards, they coped better with the reshuffling and they rode the wave of momentum to come away with a victory.

United have lost their last three Premier League visits to Anfield, not winning since a 1-0 victory in December 2007 when Carlos Tevez scored. This is the club's longest run of defeats at Liverpool under Sir Alex Ferguson - and the longest since losing seven from 1972-79.

Injury Update:

For United, Vidic and Rafael may miss this game still recovering from their long term injury while Tom Cleverly may not feature due lack of training and match fitness; similar is the case with Chris Smalling.

Steven Gerrard is likely to return the start lining presenting a new dynamism to Liverpool’s midfield along with injecting much needed pace. Glenn Johnson and Agger also return to squad.

Manager’s talk:

Sir Alex Ferguson has repeatedly stated that the match is the biggest fixture of the season but Dalglish disagrees.

Kenny Dalglish: “We've got an opportunity to reduce the gap and it's up to us to take it.

They are a fantastic team, a hugely successful football club, and we know it's going to be a very difficult game. But I think they'll look at it and think exactly the same thing.

I don't have any individual contest with Fergie. It's the football clubs who play. We don't play anymore. We can't really influence it other than in the build-up and preparation for the games. The most important thing for us is how we compete as a team on the pitch.

The head to head (between him and Ferguson) - I haven't got a clue what it is and it doesn't really matter to me anyway. I'm in competition with him because we're competing on Saturday, but over and above that, as I've always said, we're a unit, everyone's got a role to play.”

Key Players:

Steven Gerrard: Alone Luis Suarez cannot carry Liverpool’s attack on his shoulder. He has been lacking the basic services from his midfield compatriots, hence seen frustrated during the game. Everybody is familiar with Gerrard’s ability of pick a pass from anywhere in the pitch. He has done time and again, forming an excellent partnership with Owen and Torres. His sheer presence on the pitch will give a huge lift to the kopites. Dalglish has used his wisely on his return from long term injury, not tempted to give Gerrard a hurried start in Merseyside derby. Steven Gerrard has scored four Premier League goals in this fixture, two short of Robbie Fowler's six-goal record.

  

Wayne Rooney: After all the hullaballoo for the red card during the England’s match for kicking a player, the lad will return to Carrington, and ready to face Liverpool. Although he had below-par performances in the last two games, he is still the orchestrator of United’s attack. United would want him in his top game and continue his scoring run which has seen him reach the top of the Barclays Premier League’s Leading Goal Scorers.

Referee:

Your man in the middle for this one is referee Andrew Marriner.

Probable XI:

Liverpool (4-5-1): Reina, Kelly, Carragher, Srktel, Enrique, Kuyt, Gerrard , Lucas, Adams, Suarez, Caroll.

Manchester United (4-4-2): De Gea, Jones, Smalling, Ferdinand, Evra, Nani, Anderson, Fletcher, Young, Rooney, Hernandez.