The Manchester Derby: Part 1

The 411:
United travel ALL the way to the other side of Manchester to take on the noisy neighbors. This is it. The derby. After so many years of hating Liverpool, then Arsenal, and then Chelsea... I must say that these days, nothing makes me happier than beating City.

Chasing the Title:
After an incredible weekend of results in United's favor, we're gonna need to build on that and beat City in order to catch up on Chelsea and stay away from Arsenal. Right now, we're only two points behind Chelsea and they play Fulham tonight. I don't think tonight will be the night we come first, but expect Fulham to make it hard for Chelski.

Where We Stand:
Here's a better league table cause it's derby day
1|Chelsea    |11P |22GD |25PTS
2|United      |11P|11GD |23PTS
3|Arsenal     |11P |11GD |20PTS
4|Man City   |11P |5GD   |20PTS
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5|Newcastle |11P  |6GD   |17PTS

Enemy Form:
City are W-L-L-L-W in their last five games. This includes a lolable loss to Lech Poznan in the UEFA Europa League... that's right, City play in the crappy version of the Champions League. So on paper, they don't very strong tonight, but it's a derby game so the incentive of beating us might get them going. This means that we're going to have to match, and better that intensity if we want to beat City tonight.

Players to Look Out For:
There is no question that City's biggest threat will be former United man, Carlos Tevez. The man is an absolute bulldog and will fight for any ball. Just watch him tonight, he'll be a livewire. Along with him, United might find it hard getting past Joe Hart who is having a good season so far and is my choice for England's number one goalie at the moment.

I don't really think he'll produce another two-goal game, but expect Park Ji-Sung to make another impact for us tonight. Maybe not on the scoresheet, but I think he'll be doing a hell of a lot of work tonight. Also, keep an eye out for Chicharito. He has been quiet over the past few days and I wouldn't be surprised if he came back with a bang and scored a goal or two tonight.

On the Home Front:
The virus that hit United last week is still lingering. Even Sir Alex doesn't know who will be able to play tonight, but I'm guessing that most of the team will be able to play. Our definite absentees are Valencia, Giggs, Hargreaves, Owen, Gibson, Anderson (Woo Hoo!), Berbatov, Nani, and Rooney who's still in Niketown.

TSR's Thoughts:
1. Who will be out for the game tonight with the flu?
2. Will we see some goals from our strikers? Even if only Chicharito and Macheda are the only fit ones?
3. Bébé isn't quite ready yet.

Bold Prediction:
So, my predictions thus far have been fairly correct, so I'm gonna start making some Bold Predictions before every game to see if I can nail some more things before the end of the season.

Tonight I expect a 4-4-1-1 or a 4-5-1 with either Obertan or Scholes playing behind Chicharito. I also think that we will come out of our slump in form and win by two goals tonight.

You're so cold.

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?