Match Preview: Manchester United Vs Chelsea

United will proceed to the Premier League on Sunday with a clash with perennial title-contending rival Chelsea FC at Old Trafford. These two giants of the League have shared the last seven Premier League titles. The Reds have battered The Blues in the last season by winning the two-legged Champions League tie and also the title-decider at Old Trafford in the spring. Although the current season is fresh, three points for either club could be a huge plus point for the rest of the season.

MANCHESTER UNITED:

United are coming back to the League playing a draw with Benfica to open their 2011-12 UEFA Champions League campaign. United are in a roll with 4 consecutive win in the League with 18 goals and obtaining maximum 12 points. The Giants demolished Arsenal and Spurs, which were anticipated to be tough matches for United. Injuries have affected the team formation for United recently. Sir Alex Ferguson has reported no fresh injury concerns ahead of Manchester United's showdown with Chelsea at Old Trafford. Nemanja Vidic (calf), Tom Cleverley (foot) and Rafael (shoulder) remain sidelined, whilst Danny Welbeck (hamstring) is not expected to be available until next week. Changes are anticipated though, with Ferguson expected to recall many of the players who were left out of his starting line-up for the midweek Champions League draw with Benfica.

CHELSEA:

With 2-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in Champions League, the Blues are high in moral. Chelsea stands in the third position in the table with 3 win and a draw, earning 10 points behind Manchester City. This will be a testing times for Andre Villas Boas, Chelsea's new manager. Chelsea will once again be without Didier Drogba. The striker will not be risked at Old Trafford three weeks after his sickening head injury, meaning manager Andre Villas-Boas must decide whether to start Fernando Torres or Nicolas Anelka. Ramires returns after being suspended for Tuesday's Champions League win over Bayer Leverkusen, while goalkeeping understudies Hilario and Ross Turnbull are both carrying knocks, although one will be on the bench.

United (Probable, 4-4-2): De Gea; Smalling, Ferdinand, Jones, Evra; Nani, Anderson, Giggs, Young; Rooney, Hernandez.

Match Time:

8:45 pm

Sunday

September 18

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Still Unbeaten at Home

The Red Devil still remains unbeaten for the 16th consecutive times at home with goals from Danny Welbeck, Anderson and Wayne Rooney that ensured a 3-0 win for Manchester United over Spurs in the Barclay Premier League.

The home crowd had to wait until the 61st minute to break the deadlock when Welbeck steered a free header into the corner past a flat-footed Brad Friedel. 15 minutes later Anderson doubled the home side's advantage. United sealed the win with a header into the right corner from Rooney in the 87th minute. And Rooney sealed the win in the 87th minute when he guided a header into the corner from close range.

With most of its in-form players in bench, the Red Giants had a drought in the first half of play. But the young legs showed their magic after the 60th minute goal from Welbeck. The first half of the match was no special with some attempts of goals by both the team. The match first card was shown to John Evans at 36 minute. The second going to Micheal Dawson of Spurs 3 minutes later.

The match began real fire after the first goal from United. The ball possession after the Welbeck's goal was 71-29. The guests lost the control of the game afterwards. the new goalkeeper of united had some difficult moments handling the ball and the pressure as well. It wasn't quite plain sailing as De Gea's struggles under the high ball returned to present Jermain Defoe with a chance that he smacked against the post. Evans, the replacement of Vidic did make some play but was a touch clumsy with the ball and opposition players.

Missing Luka Modric - who wasn't in the right frame of mind to play -the Spurs Manager, Harry Redknapp has never won a match at the Old Trafford.

However, as the match went on, United's attacks reduced, their approach play lacked direction and Spurs grew in confidence. Rafael van der Vaart and Niko Kranjcar started to get hold of the ball in areas of some corner.All praises must be rendered to Spurs goalkeeper, Friedel for making many valiant saves.

With 2-0 down, the spurs made two quick substitution. Tom Huddlestone and Roman Pavlyuchenko came in for Jake Livermore and Niko Kranjcar. The first substitution being at the 46th minute when Vedran Corluka was brought in for Kyle Walker. However the substitutes could not save the match for them.

In the other hand, United had a trio substitution with the goal scorer, Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley and Ashley Young were replaced for Ryan Giggs, Ji-Sung Park and Javier Hernandez. This was the 614th league appearance for Giggs, which is a record now in Barclay Premier League.

The Reds Has once again proved why they had won the title for 19 times and why they are still the favorite for it. With the young legs making goals for United, the Champion can claim the title for the 20th times.

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Match Report: Manchester United 2 Barcelona 1

Nani Celebrates Goal

Two months after Champions League final heartbreak, United fans finally got something to celebrate, as the Reds beat the European Champions 2-1 at FedEx Field in Washington DC in front of record 81,807 spectators.

Without their Argentinian playmaker Messi and even Xavi, Dani Alves, Javier Mascherano, Gerard Pique  and Carles Puyol the european champions lacked much of the creativity and movement that tore the Reds apart in May's Champions League final.

Even though the game didn't matter quite much, the game was certainly a fight for prestige in which Reds claimed their prestige back. Despite local media indicating the game as a Wembley rematch and a chance for United for revenge, the players said it wont be thrilling as before but the game was certainly in pace and looked more like a revenge.

In reality, though, this was merely a pre-season run-out for Red, but it will give Red's a huge confidence for Community Shield clash against Manchester City just eight days away.

United, started the game brightly and Rooney should have scored in opening 10 minutes when Nani whipped a dangerous ball across the box from the right. Rooney edged in front of his marker at the near post but shot wide of the post.

Barcelona – short of their stars, including Lionel Messi enjoyed a moment of short dominance after Rooney's miss. One deep cross from the right did force Fabio, on as a substitute for his injured brother (knee) on 17 minutes, to head behind for a corner, however.

With the Catalan side committed forward, the Reds cleared the set-piece and broke quickly down the pitch. Danny Welbeck slipped a pass between two Barcelona defenders for Nani to chase and when the Portuguese wide-man collected the ball he kept his cool to steer home United's opener via the gap between Victor Valdes' legs.

It was classic counter-attacking football from the Reds, the sort of which United fans saw far too infrequently in the last two Champions League finals. Instead, those games will always be remembered for Barcelona's staggering possession play.

There was less of the possesion keeping on display from Catalans, although admittedly they  were missing Xavi and Messi. The less savoury side to Barcelona's game remained, though. Ashley Young and Jonny Evans were caught by wild tackles in the first half, while Sergio Busquets and David Villa both made the most of tame challenges.

Sir Alex made three changes at the break (an interval that featured basketball superstar Kobe Bryant taking penalties on the pitch) but it was Nani, United's liveliest player in the first 45 minutes, who continued to pose problems for the Barcelona defence whenever the Reds pushed forward.

At the other end, David De Gea's first save came just after the restart when he smothered Pedro's angled shot. Otherwise, the former Atletico Madrid stopper had precious little to do until the 70th minute when Thiago rifled a swerving shot into the top corner from 20 yards. There was no stopping that thunderbolt and the goal gave Barca a noticeable shot of confidence.

Six minutes later, though, United were back in front when Cleverley intercepted a stray pass and fed Michael Owen through the middle. The former Real Madrid forward – Barcelona fans won't have forgotten that fact – is usually lethal in one-on-one situations, and he made no mistake here, dinking the ball over Valdes to restore the Reds' lead.

United's win doesn't erase the memories of May's Champions League final or even strike a significant psychological blow in the battle for European football supremacy. It did, however, ensure Sir Alex's men remained undefeated in all five US Tour fixtures (scoring 20, conceding three), and provide a high-intensity finish to pre-season preparations. The result will certainly boost up confidence for the coming season as they return home with 5 out of 5 wins from the tour.

Next up: the Community Shield. Bring on the Blues!

United: De Gea; Rafael (Fabio 17), Vidic (Jones 76), Evans, Evra (Smalling 46); Nani, Cleverley, Anderson (Giggs 46), Young (Obertan 62); Rooney (Owen 46), Welbeck (76)

Subs not used: Amos, Berbatov, Ferdinand, Carrick, Park, Macheda

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Manchester United Vs Barcelona: Head To Head

Form guide
Manchester United have a 100 percent record on the pre-season tour with numerous goals in their favour. The 4-0 battering of MLS All-Stars, 3-1 of Chicago Fire, 7-0 of Seattle Sounders and 4-1 of New England Revolutions means all the forwards who have played out in the US have been successful to find the net at least once.
Barcelona have already enjoyed much success in pre-season, getting Internacional on penalties before defeating Bayern Munich 2-0 in the Audi Cup. The new sensation Thiago Alcantara scored both the goals.

Ins and outs
Manchester United: Javier Hernandez is ruled out after suffering concussion but wouldn't have played in any case.  Sir Alex has promised he'll give lengthy run-outs to most of his stars ahead of the Community Shield on Sunday week. The boss has difficulties in choosing a goalie among David De Gea and Anders Lindegaard, who have been excellent in the tour.

Barcelona: Barcelona's Copa America players are missing including Lionel Messi, Javier Mascherano and Dani Alves amongst others as well as new signing Alexis Sanchez. Xavi is back in training after an injury lay-off and should be involved.

Last meeting
The last time met was not a long time ago. They met at Wembley Stadium, 28 May 2011, in the Champions League final. A masterful performance from the Spanish Giants got them to a comfortable 3-1 victory, goals from Pedro, Messi and David Villa. Wayne Rooney's superb equaliser before half-time was, ultimately, in vain.

Top man 
Manchester United: Despite an poor start of the last season, Wayne Rooney came back with a bang after the mid season netting 17 times. Being the most succesful player for the Reds in the pre-season, Wayne has started the season too well already. He looks calm and confident and will be the key man for Manchester United.

Barcelona: For all of Messi's magic, it's arguable that Xavi was man of the match at Wembley. The midfielder ran the show with able support from Andres Iniesta and, of course, Messi who won't feature on coming game. Thus for an upcoming game Xavi will be the key man for Barcelona.

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Rooney: Hernandez Helped Me To Progress

Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has hailed his Mexican team mate Javier Hernandez for helping him progress over the past 12 months. The Englishmen also believes that they can go on and score goals together upcoming years.

The England international started 2010/11 season  following a poor performance at the World Cup in South Africa. And his poor performance continued with United, as Rooney scored just three times in United's opening 17 games of the campaign.

However, Rooney  ended the season with 17 goals to his name for club and country, thanks to the emergence of Mexican wonder kid Hernandez.

'Chicharito' arrived at Old Trafford having impressed for his country at the World Cup, and took the Premier League by storm, the Mexican settled quick in front of goal netting 20 times in all competitions.
And Rooney, speaking for media revealed that he would not have finished last season so strongly - netting 10 times in United's final 18 games - had it not been for 'Little Pea'.

"Before he came I'd only seen clips of him, and then I saw him at the World Cup. Then when he turned up, we were excited because you could see what kind of player he is," he says.

"I don't think any of us expected him to do what he did. To come in and cement your place in the team at such a young age is an incredible achievement, and I think he's helped me progress too. I can play in a deeper role and get more of the ball when he's there for defenders to worry about.

"I always want more of the ball and that position helps me see more of it. We suit each other. It could be a partnership for years."

Winning the Premier League last season saw United capture a record 19th league crown, finally usurping rivals Liverpool's haul of 18 - the last of which they lifted in 1990.

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