After their mid week victory in the champions’ league, the red devils will be all ready for Saturday’s match against Aston Villa who are currently at surprise fifth position in the premier league. Everton will be up against leaders Chelsea and the mercey side club will be hoping to win their first win at Stamford bridge in nearly a decade. Also in the offering is the classic Sunday showdown at Anfield featuring Arsenal andLiverpool, a defeat for any of them can lead to serious trouble.
Sir Alex Ferguson will be a worried man as his key defenders are out with their respective injuries which includes Gary Neville who picked up a groin injury in the match against West Ham United, Rio Ferdinand with a calf injury, there is no certainty over Owen Hargreaves. The previous two matches were relatively easy where Sir Alex could play his mid fielders in defensive role but this is an important and tricky fixture especially when Aston Villa is in the top flight. Their manager Martin O’Neill is already eying the champions’ league place for next year. Darron Gibson will be starting for United and would be seen as the key figure to score along with the likes of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes etc.
As both the clubs lost their respective matches last week, Chelsea would be a bit confident against Everton as two records goes in their favour, the first one being explained above and the second one that they still maintain the 100% win record at home this season.
Once the title contenders and fierce rivals both Arsenal and Liverpool are playing with nothing to loose as a defeat for Liverpool will further push them down to the mid table position and a defeat for the gunners will relegate them to 7th position specially their closest rivals Tottenham Hotspurs, Manchester City are having an easy fixture on paper.
Kick-off at Old Trafford is scheduled to start at 1730 Hours GMT (2200 Hours IST)
Other matches over the next two days are…
Saturday
Stoke City v Wigan 1245 Hours GMT
Birmingham vs West Ham 1500 Hours GMT
Bolton vs Manchester City 1500 Hours GMT
Burnley vs Fulham 1500 Hours GMT
Hull City vs Blackburn Rovers 1500 Hours GMT
Sunderland vs Portsmouth 1500 Hours GMT
Tottenham vs Wolverhampton 1500 Hours GMT
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