Gameday: The Manchester Derby

See that? That's our game face.

The 411:
It's the Manchester derby today. It's been pretty insignificant the past few years but ever since the Sheikhs bought them out, they've been spending like a girl in a Prada store. And so, our hatred for them grew and grew. Now they're right up there with the Arsenal's and Chelsea's. Anywho, our last few games have been very facepalm worthy and that is unacceptable. I can almost feel the handle of that beautiful Premier League trophy slipping away from our hands and we're gonna have to do something about it. A loss to Bayern, Chelsea, and a crappy half-assed performance against Blackburn means that people are writing us off. I donno about you, but I'd like to shut them up with some magic tonight.

Chasing the Title:
So, we are 4 points behind Chelsea and can put the pressure on them with an early victory tonight. Arsenal failed to capitalize on our draw with Blackburn and they're still 2 points behind us. But yeah, the title is out of our hands unfortunately. All we can do is beat our little brothers and hope for Tottenham to turn on the style tonight against Chelsea.

Where We Stand:
1|Chelsea|34P|55GD|77PTS
2|United|34P|50GD|73PTS
3|Arsenal|34P|40GD|71PTS
4|Man. City|33P|28GD|62PTS
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5|Spurs|33P|27GD|61PTS

Enemy Form:
City are 4th in the table and are on a 3 game win streak. In that little run they've scored 14 goals and only conceded 2. That's not good especially seeing that we're not so hot right now. Also, they're fighting for a place in the Champions League so there's also that incentive along with the intense derby atmosphere.

Players to Look Out For:
I hate to say this but we are going to have to watch out for Carlos Tevez. He's just been nominated for the PFA Player of the year award along with Wayne Rooney and yeah, he' s on fire, scoring 22 goals in the league and being a general menace to opposition defences. Thing is, I can't really bring myself to hate the guy even if he plays for City. The reason? He did so much for us back at Old Trafford. And to make it even worse, he's such a nice guy too. *Sigh*.

On the Home Front:
It looks likely that Wayne Rooney will be back for this one, and boy do we need him. Also Owen Hargreaves looks to be included in the team tonight. My guess is that although he's a solid defensive midfielder, he'll be on the bench for this one. As far as the formation goes, the best guess would be a 4-5-1 formation with Rooney taking over from Berbatov and Macheda who were less than impressive against Blackburn. Ferdinand and Giggs are still doubts and that means we could see a start for Jonny Evans tonight.

TSR's Thoughts:
1. Last time out it looked like we didn't even show up to the game. We need to show lots of energy tonight and show the rest of the league that we're still in business.
2. Who will lead the team tonight? So often this year we've looked to Wayne Rooney to inspire us but it's only his first game back. Ideally the team will step up together, but who will be there to spark it?

Let's shut them neighbors up eh?