Man Utd v Blackburn - ESPN : KO 12.45pm

MagicMarker

Manchester United will hope to provide Sir Alex Ferguson with a fitting 70th birthday present by finishing 2011 top of the Premier League table with victory over Blackburn Rovers.

Ferguson, who marked 25 years as United manager in November, reaches another milestone on New Year's Eve as the legendary Scot shows no signs of slowing down.

After steering United to a record-breaking 19th title last season, he can send the reigning champions into 2012 looking down on their rivals, with current leaders Manchester City not playing until New Year's Day.

Following the Boxing Day results, which saw United hammer Wigan 5-0 and City draw 0-0 at West Brom, the local rivals are level on points, so even a draw against bottom club Blackburn would send the Red Devils top.

However, despite a woeful record of only one win in their last 18 Premier League away games, Blackburn will head to Old Trafford buoyed by Monday's 1-1 draw at Liverpool.

The result was not enough to lift under-fire manager Steve Kean's side off the foot of the standings, but it could have injected confidence into his injury-hit squad.

Rovers will also hope to banish the memory of last season's abject performance at Old Trafford when Dimitar Berbatov scored five goals in a 7-1 romp.

Berbatov heads into Saturday's encounter in fine form after following up a late goal in the 5-0 success at Fulham with a hat-trick in the thrashing of Wigan.

The Bulgarian, though, is by no means guaranteed to start, with Wayne Rooney pushing for a recall after appearing as a substitute against the Latics.

Injury woes

Michael Owen is still sidelined, while Ashley Young, Anderson, Darren Fletcher and Tom Cleverley are missing from United's midfield.

Defence is also a major concern for United after Michael Carrick started at centre-half, and Antonio Valencia at right-back, in the win over Wigan.

Jonny Evans was then forced off at half-time, leaving Patrice Evra to partner Carrick, with youngster Ezekiel Fryers coming on as a substitute at left-back.

Evans is out for a couple of weeks to join Nemanja Vidic on the sidelines, while Chris Smalling will miss out due to tonsillitis after Ferguson dismissed reports the England international was suffering from glandular fever.

Ferguson is hoping Phil Jones will be fit enough to return to face his former club, and probably partner Carrick, while Rio Ferdinand has a chance of making the bench.

Blackburn also have a lengthy injury list, with defence the main area of concern for Kean ahead of the game.

Gael Givet, Ryan Nelsen, Scott Dann and Michel Salgado will all miss out, while first-choice goalkeeper Paul Robinson is also absent.

Robinson's understudy Mark Bunn impressed in the draw at Liverpool and he is likely to face a similarly busy afternoon against the Red Devils, who are the only team to have scored in every Premier League game this season.

Kean is hoping Martin Olsson can return from a hamstring injury, while David Dunn and Junior Hoilett will have their respective hamstring problems assessed.

Possible teams:
Man Utd: Lindegaard, Valencia, Carrick, Jones, Evra, Nani, Gibson, Giggs, Park, Rooney, Berbatov.

Blackburn: Bunn, Lowe, Samba, Hanley, Henley, Vukcevic, Nzonzi, Pedersen, Petrovic, Formica, Yakubu

With the fact that Utd are at home and Blackburn also has extensive injuries, I wouldn't be surprised to see a line up even crazier than the one against Wigan.

The_Kew_Tour

Confident enough to pick a 4-0 win tomorrow for United.

Professional Griefer

Hopefully Jones will bang in a few. :P

Looking forward to this match massively. Great way to start tomorrow, United on telly then onwards.

Surely we'll kill them. Hopefully, as was said sometime recently, get some goals back towards Cities GD.

Rikand

rovers to win 1-0.

evra own goal

NUTZZ

Ix Deadmau5 wrote: »

Hopefully Jones will bang in a few. :P

Is that just your tagline from now on!....:pac:

Professional Griefer

NUTZZ wrote: »

Is that just your tagline from now on!....:pac:

Hooked

Rebel Boy

4-0 United. Great chance to add to the goal difference again. No disrespect to Blackburn but United should win this 1 easily. (hopefully)

steelcityblues

'Only' 2-1 to United, I reckon.

Because they got a point at Anfield, expect Blackburn to play with more confidence than per usual.

smokedeels

I hope Rafael makes a return. He's been fit for the last two games but remained on the bench.

DB21

7-0 United. Jones double hat trick, Rooney to grab one as well.

racso1975

DB21 wrote: »

7-0 United. Jones double hat trick, Rooney to grab one as well.

Never like to see a team beaten by that score but would gladly make an exception here if it meant kean gettin the boot

Blatter

---

de Gea

---

Rafael----Jones

---

Ferdinand---Evra
Valencia---Gibson---Carrick---Welbeck

---

Rooney---Berbatov

---

Might as well get another game out of Gibson against a lesser side, if not then Park may play there. Good opportunity to ease Rafael back into the side and also to rest Nani. Berbatov should play again after his hattrtick and he got 5 goals in this fixture last season.

Liam O

Blatter wrote: »

---

de Gea

---

Rafael----Jones

---

Ferdinand---Evra
Valencia---Gibson---Carrick---Welbeck

---

Rooney---Berbatov

---

Might as well get another game out of Gibson against a lesser side, if not then Park may play there. Good opportunity to ease Rafael back into the side and also to rest Nani. Berbatov should play again after his hattrtick and he got 5 goals in this fixture last season.

you seem to be a bit obsessed with Nani not playing he's in good form and a big player, taken off early last game, he's played 60 odd minutes of football in a week, he doesn't need to be rested in this period. He's a beast sure.

Rikand

racso1975 wrote: »

Never like to see a team beaten by that score but would gladly make an exception here if it meant kean gettin the boot

sadly kean will still be with us when we're playing championship football next season

parc

Jones to get five

Jones Jones Jones

homerjay2005

impossible to predict the team for games like this with so many injuries, im not even going to try second guess fergie

hopefully rio and jones are in anyway.

thegreengoblin

Not sure about Nani being rested, as some are speculating. Would he have been taken off relatively early against Wigan if he wasn't going to play today? Too many injuries to start resting players IMO.

4-0 to the Reds, Blackburn have their injury problems too.
Come on United, let's give Fergie the perfect birthday present and get back to the top!

eagle eye

I think I'll go for a walk or go to the cinema or something around 12.45. Our situation becomes more hopeless with every passing day and I just really don't want to watch what is likely to be an absolute mauling.:(

double GG

eagle eye wrote: »

I think I'll go for a walk or go to the cinema or something around 12.45. Our situation becomes more hopeless with every passing day and I just really don't want to watch what is likely to be an absolute mauling.:(

I dont think United will get mauled. I predict a close game.

MagicMarker

Rumoured line up

De Gea, Rafael, Carrick, Evra, Jones, Park, Nani, Valencia, Welbeck, Berbatov, Hernandez

OctavarIan

MagicMarker wrote: »

Rumoured line up

De Gea, Rafael, Carrick, Evra, Jones, Park, Nani, Valencia, Welbeck, Berbatov, Hernandez

Rooney in midfield it seems.

You didn't list Rooney there?

Three wingers and three strikers, I'm okay with this!

KevIRL

MagicMarker wrote: »

Rumoured line up

De Gea, Rafael, Carrick, Evra, Jones, Park, Nani, Valencia, Welbeck, Berbatov, Hernandez

Rooney in midfield it seems.

Rooney not starting

JerryHandbag

That line up confirmed ^ no Rooney

KevIRL

Whats the bench? ESPN saying 4 18 year olds on the bench

G.K.

Valencia and Park CM?

seriousfizz

subs; Lindegaard, Anderson, Diouf, Pogba, W. Keane, Fryers, Cole.

Madness. Where is Rooney?

MagicMarker

Oh yeah, oops.

Not sure who's where in that line up? Presumably Carrick at the back but who's in the middle with Park?

G.K.

Lindegaard, Anderson, Diouf, Pogba, W. Keane, Cole, Fryers.

That's apparently your bench.

homerjay2005

thats a very strange line up. dont tell me rooney is injured now too.

and no cm at all, must be valencia and park in there. f*cking hell.

MagicMarker

seriousfizz wrote: »

subs; Lindegaard, Anderson, Diouf, Pogba, W. Keane, Fryers, Cole.

Madness. Where is Rooney?

Anderson on the bench? WTF?

G.K.

Bunn: Lowe, Samba, Hanley, Henley; Nzonzi; Formica, Petrovic, Rochina, Pederson; Yakubu.

That's blackburn's team.

OctavarIan

Is Valencia in central midfield? That would be class

CR 7

MagicMarker wrote: »

Rumoured line up

De Gea, Rafael, Carrick, Evra, Jones, Park, Nani, Valencia, Welbeck, Berbatov, Hernandez

Are we chancing the aul 3-4-3 formation today?

Rafael - Carrick - Evra

Valencia - Jones - Park - Nani

Welbz - Berbz - Hernandez

:pac:

SantryRed

I'm on the Berba hat trick. Even though it's horrible odds at 17/2.

MagicMarker

MagicMarker wrote: »

Rumoured line up

De Gea, Rafael, Carrick, Evra, Jones, Park, Nani, Valencia, Welbeck, Berbatov, Hernandez

3 defenders
3 forwards
3 wingers
1 CM

Can anyone tell me how utd will line up?

homerjay2005

OctavarIan wrote: »

Is Valencia in central midfield? That would be class

looks like so ya.

along with park :eek:

only other thing is valencia at rb, jones and evra at ch and rafael at lb, but thats too complicated.

poorest team we have had out for long long time. we could struggle for long periods in this game.

MagicMarker

I thought Ando was out until Feb?

homerjay2005

G.K. wrote: »

Bunn: Lowe, Samba, Hanley, Henley; Nzonzi; Formica, Petrovic, Rochina, Pederson; Yakubu.

That's blackburn's team.

are they missing many?

I'm thinking Berbatov and Carrick in midfield, with the range of passing he has and ball control that'd make sense to me.

Edit: Actually no... Carrick in defence, didn't see Park there.

OctavarIan

homerjay2005 wrote: »

looks like so ya.

along with park :eek:

only other thing is valencia at rb, jones and evra at ch and rafael at lb, but thats too complicated.

poorest team we have had out for long long time. we could struggle for long periods in this game.

Ferguson has said a couple of times now that he thinks Valencia has the talent to play in central midfield a la Giggs. Guess we'll find out!

Jax Teller

homerjay2005 wrote: »

looks like so ya.

along with park :eek:

only other thing is valencia at rb, jones and evra at ch and rafael at lb, but thats too complicated.

poorest team we have had out for long long time. we could struggle for long periods in this game.

That's the lineup I was thinking

Val jones Evra rafael
Nani carrick park welbeck
Chico Berba

Mr.Crinklewood

Yakubu could do damage today.

Mars Bar

We could see about 4 different formations deployed throughout the game.

Confuse the **** out of opposition seems to be our plan! We'll probably confuse ourselves...

Blatter

Sacramento wrote: »

I'm thinking Berbatov and Carrick in midfield, with the range of passing he has and ball control that'd make sense to me.

Berba doesn't have the mobility for midfield, he'll be up front. Park and Valencia CM unless as Homer says Valo RB, Raf LB, Jones, Evra CB which seems unlikely enough but wouldn't be that surprising.

MagicMarker

Coletrickle88 wrote: »

That's the lineup I was thinking

Val jones Evra rafael
Nani carrick park welbeck
Chico Berba

Swap around Jones and Carrick imo.

smokedeels

It cracks me up. Nobody guessed that team and now that it's out nobody can work out who's playing in what position.

I'm going to say Raf in CM, although I'm probably wrong.

MagicMarker wrote: »

I thought Ando was out until Feb?

Smoke and mirrors.

Berbatov in goal for me.

OctavarIan

On paper this could be an exciting game. The potential for bombing forward on the break is awesome with all the pace there.

G.K.

homerjay2005 wrote: »

are they missing many?

Yes, 3 of the first choice back 4, Paul Robinson the keeper, David Dunn and Junior Hoilett.

Mr.Crinklewood

Formation

Jones - Carrick - Jones - Evra

- Jones -

Welbz - Berbz - Hernandez

homerjay2005

not in the squad today-

rafael
evans
vidic
rio
smalling

young
cleverly
giggs
morisson
fletcher
gibson


rooney
owen
macheda

unbelieveable jeff