Premier League preview: Fulham Vs Manchester United
In what would be their second game of the 10/11 premier league season, Fulham will host last year runner-ups Manchester United, on Sunday. Fulham boast an impressive record while hosting the 18-time champions at Craven Cottage, securing 2 straight wins from the previous two meetings in the league. Sir Alex Ferguson would be looking to improve on that front in order to score all three points.
In their previous two meetings at Craven Cottage, Fulham defeated the Red Devils 2-0 and 3-0, in white wash victories. Sir Alex Ferguson has made his intentions clear; they look to win each and every match in the premier league to lift the coveted title for a record 19th time.
Manchester United news
Manchester United did well against Newcastle United in their premier league opener, securing a comfortable 3-0 victory over the magpies. The manager would therefore be looking for the same starting XI, employing the traditional 4-4-2. Rio Ferdinand, Owen Hargreaves and Anderson would be omitted owing to injury. Left back Patrice Evra, who suffered a slight knock while playing against Newcastle, would still be expected to start, while Fabio will feature on the bench. Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov would yet again take up the front line, while Michael Owen has also been included in the squad. Owen was completely omitted from the last week encounter against his former club, Newcastle, but may well play some part of this contest. Concerns still loom over the form of Wayne Rooney, who has gone 1,082 minutes with scoring a goal. That makes it 13 matches for both club and country and scored his last goal back in March against Bayern Munich.
The manager however isn’t too concerned of Rooney’s condition, claiming that striker thrives by their goals. While talking to the press, the manager added that once a striker finds the net, he wishes never to stop. On the other hand, when they can’t find the back of the net, they think that goals might never even come. Sir Alex therefore claimed that Wayne Rooney is but a goal away from finding his lethal form, in which Rooney scored 34 goals in all competitions last season.
Fulham news
Former Manchester United forward Mark Hughes have taken over the rein at Fulham and much would be expected from the 46-year-old. Hughes would have a lot of promises to fulfil, as he takes charge into his first competitive home game.
Former manager Roy Hodgson led the club to a dream run in the Europa league, taking the low lying side to the final. Hodgson also managed to keep Fulham in the mid-table in the premier league for the last couple of seasons, presenting a major challenge to the new manager Mark Hughes.
Fulham would be without the services of Andy Johnson, Philippe Senderos and Diomansy Kamara, who are all out owing to long-term injuries. Paul Konchesky and goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer also look extremely doubtful for the contest. Both of them are heavily linked to a move to Liverpool and Arsenal respectively, and their omission to the squad would deal a hard blow to Fulham’s chances. Newly signed Belgian Moussa Dembélé is expected to make it on the bench and may well be given his premier league debut at some point during this encounter.
Prediction
Manchester United have developed intense synergy in their side and look like a team driven towards reaching their goal. Their attack may well prove too much for the Cottagers to handle, with many of their players having the ability to score. Even though Wayne Rooney is struggling to find form at the moment, player like Hernandez, Valencia and rejuvenated Dimitar Bertatov have stepped up to fill the void. United will score at least two goal on the night, denying Fulham to pull an upset three games in a row.
In the midfield, in form Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes are expected to torment Fulham’s back line by providing important through balls and passes. Scholes has produced a string of excellent performances, earning back-to-back “man of the match” awards. The only threat that United face from Fulham’s attack is from the late blooming Bobby Zamora. If centre back Nemenja Vidic is able to neutralize the Zamora threat, there isn’t much left in the tank for Mark Hughes XI.
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