Preview: Manchester United Vs. Aston Villa
Venue: Old Trafford
Date: Saturday, 12 December 2009
Kick-off: 1730 GMT
Nemanja Vidic returns to the starting line up for the visit of Aston Villa tomorrow, as the defensive injury crisis at Manchester United looks to be showing signs of easing.
Vidic will be partnered in defence by midfielder Michael Carrick, who performed so well in the trips to West Ham and Wolfsburg.
Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and Ryan Giggs are all available for Sir Alex fergsuon, so his options are slowly getting better as the players recover from their respective injuries.
Michael Owen will be hoping to retain his place in the starting line up after an impressive hat trick in Germany last week. sir Alex Ferguson has told Owen not to give up on his dream going to the World Cup in South Africa next Summer, but he’ll have to keep up his goalscoring form to have any chance of getting there ahead of Jermain Defoe. But Fergie still believes that Owen has a chance.
Nevertheless, Ferguson thinks Owen could still force his way in, and insists the former Liverpool striker will get enough chances to impress over the next few months.
“Fabio has said himself, performance is the only thing that matters,” said Ferguson.
“If Michael is going to get to the World Cup it will be through his performance and I think Wednesday helps him.
“There is a view that he will not have played enough games. But he will play a sufficient number to be considered.
“That is the best chance he has got. That is all he can hope for.”
Aston Villa are buoyed by the return of defender James Collins, but whether manager Martin O’Neill will bring him straight back in or keep faith with Carlos Cuellar remains to be seen.
Manchester United (from): Kusczak, Foster, Fletcher, Vidic, Carrick, Evra, Park, Nani, Valencia, Obertan, Anderson, Scholes, Gibson, Giggs, Rooney, Berbatov, Owen, Welbeck.
Aston Villa (from): Friedel, L. Young, Dunne, Downing, Warnock, Milner, Petrov, A. Young, Heskey, Agbonlahor, Guzan, Sidwell, Carew, Delph, Reo-Coker, Beye, Clark, Collins.
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