English Premier League – Match Preview: Everton versus Manchester United
Wayne Rooney and Co. are set to visit Goodison Park for their fourth English Premier League game of the season against Everton F.C. Everton, whose home ground is Goodison Park will be looking to take advantage of Rooney’s off-field troubles and secure an unlikely win over Manchester United in the process.
Manchester United led by their long standing manager, Sir Alex Ferguson won their last English Premier League game against West Ham United by a convincing three goal margin at the theatre of dreams, Old Trafford. However, events can unfold quite differently against Everton who have had a slow start to their season.
Everton lost their last English Premier League match against Aston Villa by a solitary goal which was scored by Villa’s full back Luke Young. Everton drew their second game of the season against Wolverhampton and therefore have had a shortage of goals in the English Premier League season so far. Manchester United on the other hand have had no such problems, the Red Devils have scored nine goals in their three English League matches so far with Dimitar Berbatov playing a major role in all of their victories so far.
In contrast, Dimitar’s partner in attack Rooney has been under pressure due to some of his off-the-field antics. Recently it was revealed by Sunday Mirror that Rooney was cheating on his wife Colleen during her pregnancy days with vice girl, a scandal that has rocked Wayne’s marriage and according to some reports has also affected his image in the eyes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United fans.
Before joining Manchester United, Rooney played for Everton so the English national’s return to the Merseyside club is predicted to be spicy after an enthralling couple of weeks with the Three Lions. Everton’s defender and Rooney’s English national team, team mate Phil Jagielka has already given a rise to the war of words between the two clubs as he has issued a warning to Rooney regarding the nature of reception he will receive on his return to Everton.
Everton’s terrible start to the season has resulted in the Toffee’s only managing to gain a single point from their first three Premier League games. Two of which have ended in losses to Blackburn Rovers and Aston Villa. The main problem for Everton has been a real lack of goals in their side, something that one does not often associate with the Merseyside blues. Pressure has been piled up on Everton after their Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta termed Everton’s encounter against United as a must win for David Moyes.
Despite all these media reports and the wretched form that Everton are on presently, Manchester United will be on their guard when they visit Goodison Park as last time around in the English Premier League season of 2009-2010, the corresponding fixture ended in a three goals to one defeat for the former English league champions. United do have some injury troubles going into their fourth match of the season as Hargreaves is still absent with a long term knee problem. Michael Carrick is also a confirmed absentee for the Red Devils after he sustained an Achilles injury in training.
Anderson and Rio Ferdinand are fit to feature for United after both of them were sidelined due to knee and back injuries respectively. Several Pundits have come out and stated that Rooney might be dropped the match against Everton due to all the attention that has surrounded his private life. Conversely, Everton are struggling to find strikers in their squad after Luis Saha and Yakubu were declared unfit for Saturday’s match against Manchester United. Jack Rodwell and ex-Manchester United player Phillip Neville are also on the sidelines for Everton’s match against Sir Alex Ferguson’s team.
Regardless of the news surrounding Manchester United’s star striker Rooney, the men from Old Trafford are favorites to get their first away win of the season at Goodison Park as Everton are considered to be too weak to contain the Red Devils.
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