Manchester United v Aston Villa KO - 4:00

Professional Griefer

Manchester United will be desperate to correct their midweek slip-up at Wigan when they host struggling Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Sunday.
The Premier League leaders suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at the DW Stadium on Wednesday night, allowing second-placed Manchester City to cut their lead to five points with five games remaining after romping to victory at home to West Brom.
The Red Devils now find themselves under unexpected pressure, with City having been largely written off ahead of the midweek results after previously slipping eight points adrift following an untimely rough patch.
Damage control will be United's priority this weekend as they look to widen the gap once more, with only a visit of Everton standing between Sunday's encounter and the Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium later this month which could potentially decide the title.
But Sir Alex Ferguson should be feeling quietly confident knowing three of his side's four remaining matches, not counting the derby, will be played on home turf.
Ferguson's side, who had stormed to eight consecutive wins ahead of Wednesday's upset, have only lost twice at Old Trafford this season and have not dropped a point there since New Year's Eve, conceding just one goal in that period.
Villa will hope to capitalise on their blunder against the Latics as they look to avoid being dragged into the relegation scrap in the final weeks of the campaign.
Alex McLeish's men are currently 15th in the table and six points clear of safety but have won just one of their last 10 league encounters, suffering four defeats over that period.
The Midlanders were held 1-1 at home to Stoke on Easter Monday - their second draw on the bounce after their trip to Liverpool last weekend ended with the same scoreline.
Team news

Nani is in contention to return to Ferguson's starting XI after featuring as a substitute against Wigan following a five-match absence with an ankle injury.
The manager has confirmed midfielder Paul Scholes will feature after he was rested for Wednesday's defeat, while Anderson (hamstring), Darren Fletcher (bowel condition), Michael Owen (thigh) and Nemanja Vidic (knee) remain long-term absentees.
Villa boss McLeish will check on the fitness of Chris Herd and Stephen Warnock ahead of the trip to Old Trafford.
Herd suffered a head injury during Monday's draw with Stoke, while Warnock was substituted with an ankle problem. Charles N'Zogbia and Gary Gardner will be in contention to replace the duo if ruled out.
Midfielder Fabian Delph has returned to training after his ankle injury when on loan at Leeds while winger Marc Albrighton is battling to overcome a thigh problem.
Possible starting XIs:
Man Utd: De Gea, Evra, Ferdinand, Evans, Rafael, Young, Carrick, Scholes, Valencia, Rooney, Welbeck.



Aston Villa: Given, Hutton, Collins, Baker, Lichaj, Bannan, Ireland, N'Zogbia, Gardner, Weimann, Agbonlahor.


(above taken from skysports.com)


Should be a good match, pressure on both sides. With City winning yesterday, United will want to bring to gap back to 5 points and do their goal difference a favour. Whereas Villa are close enough to the bottom, and with the end of the season approaching, they'll want to get as many points as possible.


My prediction: 3-0.

Coverage starts 3:00 on Sky Sports 1.

Mikeyt086

City are hitting form and are hot on the heels of United, any slip ups and they will pounce. United's form has been unconvincing, and coming off a dreadful showing against Wigan.

Prediction: 1-0 United. A nervous one.

Will I Amnt

Ix Deadmau5 wrote: »

My prediction: 3-0.

Hmmmm! Didn't you predict we'd beat Wigan 4-0?

Professional Griefer

cambo2008 wrote: »

Hmmmm! Didn't you predict we'd beat Wigan 4-0?

Too right.

United 0 - 9 Aston Villa

monkey9

six nil Utd! Villa are woeful!!

Samich

Hate playing Villa! Come on Utd!

Xavi6

Villa are terrible and it'll be a miracle if they score. Best we can hope for is a 0-0.

monkey9

Villa really are bad though!! Liverpool should have hammered them last week, but we just put in our usual performance.

The only hope Villa have is if it's still nil all at half time. But if Utd score in the first twenty minutes, then it's gonna be a massacre!!

J. Marston

Drop points and we're fúcked.

Helix

united are absolutely gonna murder us

6 or 7 nil i reckon

bad enough playing united in the run in, but when theyve gotten beaten by a relegation candidate to let their main title rivals get back with a sniff, fergie won't take anything less than a top class united performance - and given how bad villa are, i can see it being an embarrassment unless united have someone sent off relatively early on... and since it's at old trafford that's just not gonna happen

MickySticks

5-0 United. Rooney hatrick, Valencia and Giggs.

nkay1985

2-0 United but a nervy one.

SirDelboy18

Echos of 2009 here in my view, could be very very nervy. The only thing being that Villa are about 10 times worse.

An early goal could hopefully lead to a hammering though, which would allow us to take Scholes off early as he will need Fort Knox like protection until the derby.

joshrogan

United 1-1 Villa, after the game sky sports declare the title race as back on and go through every possible scenario of how each Manchester club can win it until the league is over.

NinjaK

If United drop points again it clear they dont have the mentality to win the Premier League. Big test of their mentality.

onemorechance

NinjaK wrote: »

If United drop points again it clear they dont have the mentality to win the Premier League. Big test of their mentality.

Welcome back.

Dubit10

Easy easy win for United. 5 or 6 nil. Villa are a terrible terrible side with zero fight about them.

The_Kew_Tour

2-0 United, not expecting a great display though for some reason, just get job done.

kryogen

The Zog back for Villa today?

G.K.

He's alledgedly back.

Expecting a simple win for United.

invinciblePRSTV

Battling win against all the odds for Villa as Alec sticks it to his mentor and Gabby pwns the Man Utd defence yet again.

(Still drunk from last nite)

OwaynOTT

Surely an utd win as villa are fairly poor lately.

kryogen

Villa have been ****e all season, they have horrendous injuries and a ****e manager, doesnt mean United will have it easy though!

Tough to break down and if Ag and Zog are fit they have genuine pace to hit us on the break

~Marky~

United will want to bounce back after the Wigan match so going to say 3-0 Man U.

markc1184

Not been looking forward to this match. Think United might make life difficult for themselves. Saying that, if they score early, the floodgates could open. I'll take any win.

FutureGuy

Nerves, nerves, nerves, 1-0 United, nerves, nerves 2-0 United. And relax.

JPA

United will win easy but low scoring, 1 or 2 nil with a penalty.

Mr Alan

Villa are actually possibly the worst team i've watched in the league this year. Coming off the back of such a big upset at Wigan, I'd genuinely expect Utd to ****ing hockey them.

Owen_S

0-0 or 1-0, however I'm prepared to eat my words.

cgpg5

Think Utd can count themselves lucky they've such an easy fixture after the loss midweek. If they'd Everton today it would be extremely worrying.

Can't see Villa scoring tbh. 2-0 United I'll go for, with the real test coming next week

Copper_pipe

Hope man utd get a few goals , maybe 4-0

Copper_pipe

Hope to see a team like this

Jax Teller

Maybe Chico for Welbeck but I'd expect near enough to that team ^^^^^

Paul Tergat

No slip ups. 3 points please. Cmon United!

Kylo Ren

I'd say United will either hammer Villa or win by a small margin. They could also draw or lost too, you can throw that in there too.

Paul Tergat

Keno 92 wrote: »

I'd say United will either hammer Villa or win by a small margin. They could also draw or lost too, you can throw that in there too.

Postponement or abandonment is also an option

SantryRed

Keno 92 wrote: »

I'd say United will either hammer Villa or win by a small margin. They could also draw or lost too, you can throw that in there too.

There's sitting on the fence and then there is this :pac:

Villa are atrocious this season. If the United that that beat Blackburn and QPR turn up, it'll be easy for them.

MagicMarker

****ing hell I hate late kick offs.

monkey9

Over 2.5 goals is 1/2 on with BET365

WoollyRedHat

4-1 scoreline, with the last goal being scored, not because of Villa's profeciency, but because De Gea gets distracted towards the end by a beautiful women in the third row, that or a doughnut from tesco.

Copper_pipe

Man Utd: De Gea, Evra, Ferdinand, Evans, Rafael, Carrick, Scholes, Young, Valencia, Rooney, Welbeck - #MUFC

Aston VIlla: Given, Hutton, Collins, Baker, Lichaj, Bannan, Gardner, Clark, Ireland, Weimann, Agbonlahor - #AVFC #mufc

Paul Tergat

Copper_pipe wrote: »

Man Utd: De Gea, Evra, Ferdinand, Evans, Rafael, Carrick, Scholes, Young, Valencia, Rooney, Welbeck - #MUFC

Aston VIlla: Given, Hutton, Collins, Baker, Lichaj, Bannan, Gardner, Clark, Ireland, Weimann, Agbonlahor - #AVFC #mufc

Bench: Amos, Jones, Berbatov, Giggs, Hernandez, Nani, Cleverley

Copper_pipe

Man Utd Subs: Cleverley, Nani, Hernandez, Giggs, Berbatov, Jones, Amos - #MUFC

Paul Tergat

The chopping and changing of Welbeck and Chicho is damaging for both of them imo but I do understand that different players will suit different opposition. Young would want to show he deserves to keep the place ahead of Nani and nice to see Scholes back

Strong team.

Cmon United!

Oh, and Berba back on the bench

MagicMarker

Good to have the man back in the starting XI!!



Holy **** Berba is on the bench! :eek: I'd love to see him get a run out!

adox

Berba back on the bench!

Samich

Expect a win, cmon!

dastardly00

very happy with the united line-up. The starting 11 should perform a lot better than the team fielded against Wigan.

Copper_pipe

berba to score please

Patsy fyre

Delighted to see Scholes back in the team, c'mon the reds

Mars Bar

Berba back!

No Fabio on the bench.