Ref: Howard Webb
Att: 47320

Man City v Man Utd

Venue: Eastlands Date: Sunday, 30 November Kick-off: 1330 GMT

Man City: 11th 17 points

Man Utd: 3rd 25 points

After losing against our bitter rivals twice last year, United and City go head-to-head for the 150th time on Sunday.

Man City are flying after beating Arsenal 3-0 last week, then beating Shalke 2-0 in the Uefa Cup. Two great results for City, made even better by the news that Robinho will play in this tie.

Man Utd are on the back of two straight 0-0 draws against Aston Villa and Villareal respectively, Man Utd will look to bounce back and close the gap on Chelsea and Liverpool and will be boosted by the return of Berbatov from injury.

Man City Probable Line Up:

Hart

Zabaleta –  Richards –  Dunne – Garrido

Kompany

Wright-Phillips –  Ireland

Vassell – Benjani – Robinho

Man Utd Probable Line Up:

Van der Sar

Neville – Ferdinand  – Vidic – Evra

Ronaldo – Carrick – Giggs – Park

Berbatov – Rooney

The Managers:

Mark Hughes says that he will focus on beating old club United and stick to the blue half of Manchester:

“It is about my team and my club going up against the best side at this time. They are European champions, league champions and it is a huge test.

“As a professional manager you want to test yourself against the best. My players are professionals and they want to beat the best. When you go up against United that is what you have to do.

“If you get a positive result against the top sides from your own point of view, your professional pride is as high as it can be.

“We will try and give United a very difficult game and are very excited by the prospect of doing so.”

Sir Alex Ferguson talks about City’s position in the table:

“Where are they at the moment?

“Excuse me! At this moment in time, our threats are still Chelsea and Liverpool who are sitting above us, aren’t they?”

“Spending money is easier said than done. That’s when decision-making has to come into it and it is Mark who is left with that responsibility.

Last five league meetings:

2007-08: City 1, United 0
2006-07: City 0, United 1
2005-06: City 3, United 1
2004-05: City 0, United 2
2003-04: City 4, United 1

Prediction: 1-2 It will be a tight encounter with both teams have good chances. The quality of Man United will be too good for City, with Rooney getting his 100th goal for the club on Sunday.

Man Utd Statistics

Man Utd drew 0-0 with Villareal in a lively encounter in Spain. Both teams have now qualified for the next stage but are still fighting for 1st place. Ronaldo came closest for United, but his shot was saved by Lopez and crashed on the crossbar. Fletcher, Anderson and Rooney all had chances which were well saved with the home side having good chances of their own. Joan Capdevila was sent off for a challenge on Ronaldo.

Tomasz Kuszczak – The Polish stopper had little to do for most of the match. He was comfortable between the posts. (6)

John O’Shea – Defended well and attacked well.  He was calm and grew in stature as the game went on. (6)

Rio Ferdinand – Always in control in any situation, Ferdinand was strong in every department. (7)

Jonny Evans – Coped well with Rossi. he had a more easier night than expected. (7)

Patrice Evra (booked 36) – Made several clearances and was a threat when going forward and assisting the wingers. (7)

Cristiano Ronaldo (booked 53) – A threat when he had the ball, Ronaldo caused havoc for the defenders. He was fouled on numerous occasions including Capdevila’s red card. (8)

Michael Carrick – Good performance by the central midfielder. He tackled and passed really well. (8)

Darren Fletcher – Energetic, and created chances as well as having chances. Tested Lopez with a few distant shots. (7)

Nani –  It was his cross that set up Rooney for the disallowed goal but apart from that poor. (5)

Wayne Rooney – Had two great chances and was a danger to Villareal’s dodgy backline. He was involved in almost everything. (8)*

Substitutes

Darron Gibson (on for Fletcher 80) – (6)

Ji-sung Park (on for Nani 84) – (6)

Carlos Tevez (on for Carrick 86) – (6)

Much has been speculated that Carlos Tevez is on his way out of of Old Trafford….and possibly to Madrid. The thing is though, is spending 32m on our third choice striker really worth it? Would United try buying his contract from the MSI agency that ‘owns’ the Argentinian? Also, with Rooney and Berbatov as the main strike force and the way the duo are linking up together. True, he has scored some important goals for the club and works incredibly hard for the team.

Are we going to get a new striker? Sir Alex Ferguson says he may recall striker Frazier Campbell back from Tottenham in the January window. This further puts Tevez United future in doubt, but to make it worse the manager has also said he may reconsider bringing back Giuseppe Rossi back from Villarreal and never wanted him to leave. Obviously, with all the striker Man Utd had at the time, Rooney, Tevez and Saha, he had to leave. But the champions have a buy back option of the Italian, as Rossi has netted 11 league goals in 27 appearances for Villareal. Incidentally, our next opponents on Tuesday. Rossi has the quality, a goalscorer but the reason why he left the club was that he wasn’t getting any starts and that’s Tevez’s current problem.

“We have the option to buy back Rossi at some point in the future and that is something I want to look at,” said Ferguson ahead of the match with Villareal

“He is a good player who is doing well at Villarreal and it was difficult to let him go.

Due to injuries with Rooney and Berbatov this month, Tevez has found a few more games in a red shirt. Yet, his performances this months have been below par. He looks as if he’s trying to hard to impress and he has failed. He is not like your average striker, he likes to sit behind the striker but so do Rooney and Berbatov. The fact that they are all similiar types of players is a problem.

Though, every player has it’s good points. He is a good finisher, his work rate is fantastic and his determinatation and stamina is second to none. He chases players all over the field and puts an awful lot of pressure on them.

Money is the main reason as David Gill has said before that the club might not have enough funds for Tevez. Mostly because the Glaziers are still trying to pay their huge loans.

Would they stick with Tevez, though. It’s debatable and I would like to hear your views on what you think.

Uefa Champions League, Group E: Match Five
Venue: Estadio El Madrigal Date: Tuesday 25 November Kick-off: 1945 GMT

Cristiano Ronaldo is a big boost for United as they look for a point to qualify for the next stage. For Villareal it’s exactly the same and if they get anything other than a loss both teams qualify.

After a dissapointing draw against Aston Villa, Man Utd look to put that behind them with  a win in Spain. Villareal on the other hand are on the back of a 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Vallodid.

Probable Line Ups: Man Utd

Van Der Sar

O’Shea - Ferdinand – Vidic – Evra

Ronaldo – Fletcher - Carrick – Nani

Rooney – Tevez

Villareal Probable team:

Diego Lopez

Angel Lopez – Rodriguez – Fuentes – Capdevila

Cazorla – Edmilson – Senna -  Pires

Rossi – Franco

Group E
Goals scored	5	1	7	9
Goals conceded	11	5	1	5
Shots on target	13	11	29	35
Shots wide	20	15	39	27
Possession (time)	27 mins	25 mins	33 mins	33 mins
Possession (%)	46%	43%	55%	55%
Corners	14	18	40	17
Offside	7	6	12	12
Fouls committed	60	69	44	50
Fouls suffered	54	44	55	62
Yellow cards	6	6	3	7
Red cards	1	0	0	0

Saturday was a really surprising, a strange day in the Premier League. 1) All the ‘Big Four’ played on Saturday. 2) All the ‘Big Four’ failed to win on Saturday. 3) All the ‘Big Four’ failed to score. Scary, isn’t it….

At about 5pm yesterday, I was licking my lips at the results which rolled in at the time. Watching Arsenal drop like flies against Man City as our rivals beat them 3-0, the BBC Final Score reporter for the game described Arsenal as ‘imposter’s’ and ‘ a pale imitation’ was one thing but to see Chelsea and Liverpool hosting no score draws. Man Utd were about to start their 5:30 kick off, I thought about this will be the day were we can close the gap on both. If we had won, it would have been narrowed down to just six with a game in hand which can then make it three.

How rare would it be to see all our title rivals drop points on the same day, something that probably won’t happen this term. We drew 0-0 though, a performance that lacked everything and was a shadow of our performance against Stoke. When we started the season, we played badly sitting in the bottom half of the table, and that all changed when Berbatov was introduced. He gave United more to their game, his ability to link up play and create attacks was the main reason for the 25 points we earned (still 25 isn’t enough) and without Berbatov on Saturday we looked unorganized and the players were just all over the place. When Ronaldo, limped off it only made it worse for us with 10 minutes to go. As he left the pitch, he signalled to the Aston Villa fans that he was number one (pictured), though watching his performance it didn’t seem like it. Anderson replaced him but i thought that was a bad change as maybe Welbeck shoud have came on. It left Rooney as our only striker as Tevez made way before for Nani, and Rooney loves it when he has someone who could assist him up front, he thrives on it.

The gap is still eight, Man Utd face a tough challenge trying to stay on track with Chelsea and Liverpool and hope we don’t slip up and drop points. When it comes to the final day, this result could decide the title outcome.

What’s Next? Man Utd have a local derby against rivals Man City on Sunday, while Chelsea visit Arsenal.

The Final Word: It seems as though, Sir Alex is losing faith in Tevez. Reports and rumours over the last few days suggest that he is hunting another striker. According to the Sunday Express, the boss has revealed that Manchester United have the option to buy back Villareal striker Giuseppe Rossi, who signed for the Spanish runners up last summer. Also he has said that he is considering bringing back Frazier Campbell back to Old Trafford in January.