Premiership
Old Trafford
Saturday, 29 March; KO: 17:15 BST


...:::-----------------------------------------------------:::...

Premiership Table:


...:::-----------------------------------------------------:::...



There are few results that would have pleased those associated with Manchester United more than last weekend’s emphatic


3-0 victory against bitter rivals Liverpool

That the men from Anfield were put to the sword in such a dominating fashion has also managed to only further fuel the sense of
expectation surrounding the club as the Premiership enters the business end of the season.

Thus, the visit of an Aston Villa side low on confidence, and short on form and results, will be greeted gleefully by a team eager to claim
yet another three points in their seemingly unavoidable charge to yet another Premiership title.

However, Sir Alex Ferguson will have been reminding his players of the problems created by Aston Villa
in the opening stages of the corresponding fixtures between these sides in October.

Indeed, the Villains took the lead in this game through the pacey


Gabriel Agbonlahor

and exerted considerable pressure on their illustrious opponents until some farcical defending and two sendings-off set the Red Devils on the path


to a 4-1 victory

Furthermore, the Premiership’s ‘Big Four’ always seem to suffer from the tiredness induced by their star studded squads travelling
all over the globe during an international week, with this often impinging on the results recorded in the following round of fixtures.

Regrettably for all Villa fans, Manchester United should not be overly affected by this accumulative fatigue due to the fact that both
Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo were absent from Portugal’s mid week defeat to Greece.

This should lead to United’s no. 7 terrorising yet another Premiership defence, in a run of form that has seen Ronaldo score
an incredible 27 goals in his last 25 league starts.

If this is to happen, then there can be little doubt that Manchester United will have further cemented their position
as the leading protagonists in the fight to claim the Premiership title once the final whistle blows on Saturday evening.



For the Aston Villa fans dreaming of their team finishing in the UEFA Cup qualifying places at the beginning of February,
the results of March will have seriously deflated any optimism that European football will have been making a return to Villa Park next season.

Indeed, Villa have been unable to record a Premiership victory since their 2-1 win at Reading on the 24th February,
with the team managing to score only a paltry two goals in their last four games.

Long gone is the spark and energy displayed by a Villa team that had impressed many observers for the majority of this Premiership season:
the recent low key displays of young England hopefuls Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor testify to this.

That this loss of form was also predicted by many due to Aston Villa’s lack of activity in the January transfer window has only served to
increase the frustrations of the Villa fans that have not been surprised at all by the tired legs shown by their team in recent weeks.

As such, there does not seem to be a great deal of expectation that Aston Villa will be able to record their first Premiership victory at Old Trafford,
with the scale of the task facing the team from Birmingham being borne out by the fact that
they have lost their last 10 league matches against the Red Devils.

However, the return of club captain Olof Mellberg to the Villa ranks should shore up a backline that will need to be at their absolute best
if they are to keep the vibrant Manchester United attack quiet.

If this happens, plus John Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor begin to fire again on all cylinders, then it may just be possible for the Villains
to claim an unlikely few points from their trip to Old Trafford.

------------------------------


TEAM NEWS






Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson will be able to pick from an almost full strength squad, with the only injury doubt
stemming from the minor hamstring strain that Louis Saha picked up whilst on international duty with France.

Long term absentees Mikael Silvestre (knee) and Gary Neville (thigh) have impressed of late in Reserve team fixtures,
but still remain weeks away from any possible return to the first team squad.


Last starting XI:

Van Der Sar
Brown - Rio - Vidic - Evra
Ronaldo - Carrick - Scholes - Anderson (Tevez '73) - Giggs (Nani '73)
Rooney

Subs Not Used: Kuszczak, Hargreaves, O'Shea.

Squad: Van Der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Anderson, Tevez, Giggs, Nani, Rooney, Kuszczak, Hargreaves, O'Shea,
Foster, Park, Fletcher, Pique, Saha.






All Aston Villa fans will be buoyed by the news that club captain Olof Mellberg is to make a welcome return to the Villa squad after recovering
from the sprained ankle that kept him out of last weekend’s defeat to Sunderland.

Scott Carson is also expected to be available for Martin O’Neill’s side even though he pulled out of England’s mid week fixture with France due to a minor knee injury.
As such, Curtis Davies remains Villa’s only guaranteed absentee from this fixture due to the Achilles tendon injury that will keep him sidelined
until at least the beginning of next season.

Last starting XI:
Carson
Gardner, Knight, Laursen, Bouma
Maloney (Osbourne 74), Reo-Coker (Harewood 57), Barry, Young,
Agbonlahor, Carew

Subs Not Used: Taylor, Salifou, Petrov.

Squad: Carson, Gardner, Knight, Laursen, Bouma, Maloney, Osbourne, Reo-Coker, Harewood, Barry, Young, Agbonlahor, Carew, Taylor,
Salifou, Petrov, Sorensen, Routledge, Berger.

------------------------------


...:::-----------------------------------------------------:::...



BIG-MATCH FACTS


Victory from the 150th league meeting with Aston Villa will send Manchester United eight points clear at the summit,
and would see retain that margin on Saturday night, if Arsenal lose at Bolton in the 1500 hours kick-off.

United are looking for their 700th win under Sir Alex Ferguson (counting cup ties decided on penalty shoot-outs as either a win or a defeat).

The Red Devils boss is also looking to add to the 18 major titles he has masterminded for the Old Trafford club.

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill is chasing a 25th win in his 70th Premier League match in charge.
Villa also need only a draw to total 100 points under O'Neill.

The Midlanders have lost their last two, without scoring, and are eight points short of fifth place.
They're facing United for the third time this season and first since losing 0-2 at home in the third round of the FA Cup.

United are defending an unbeaten home Premier League record against Villa.

They are chasing a 14th league and cup victory over the Villans home and away, and 11th in a row in the league.



Cristiano Ronaldo

has scored 27 goals in 25 league starts for United, and needs 13 more from the minimum of nine remaining games, and maximum of 12, to break



Denis Law's

club record of 46 in a season.



CLUB FORM:

Club stats
Fixtures

1. Lost one of nine (all competitions).

2. Won nine of the last 11, including the last five against Newcastle (a), Fulham (a), Derby (a), Bolton (h) and Liverpool (h).

3. Secured 23 victories, dropped 20 points, scored 64 goals, at one every 44 minutes on average, and conceded 15,
at one every 186 minutes (three hours six minutes);
the best in all four categories.

4. Registered the joint fewest draws, alongside Reading; four each.

5. Not conceded in 371 minutes (six hours 11 minutes), since Abdoulaye Diagne Faye's consolation for
Newcastle in the 5-1 home win over the Magpies on 23 February.
Kept more clean sheets than any other club; their 19 shut-outs, is two ahead of the next nearest, Chelsea.

6. Opened the scoring in an unmatched 25 games (won 22, and lost just one of them);
and allowed the opposition to score first in five matches - that's fewer occasions than any other club.

7. Scored 16 goals in the last 10 minutes, 10 of which were in the last five minutes, seven of those being in stoppage time;
no club can beat those, although Arsenal and Reading can match their stoppage time return.

8. On the longest current run since a goalless draw of 30 matches;
and the longest since failing to score of 17 matches.

9. Lost two of 32 home league games.

10. The next fixture after this is the Champions League quarter-final, away to Roma next Tuesday.

Quote:

The league run-in is:- Middlesbrough (a) Arsenal (h) Blackburn (a) Chelsea (a) West Ham (h) Wigan (a)

FORM GUIDE


Quote:

Sunday 23rd March vs. Liverpool (H) won 3-0 (PREM) Wednesday 19th March vs. Bolton Wanderers (H) won 2-0 (PREM) Saturday 15th March vs. Derby County (A) won 1-0 (PREM) Saturday 8th March vs. Portsmouth (H) lost 1-0 (FA CUP) Tuesday 4th March vs. Olympique Lyonnais (H) won 1-0 (CHAMP LG)

Club stats
Fixtures

1. No win in four; drawn two and lost two since winning 1-2, away to Reading on 24 February.

2. Not lost three in a row since 16-30 December 2006 when four successive losses were suffered.

3. On the longest current sequence without a clean sheet of 17 matches;
the 0-4 away win over Blackburn on 28 November being their last shut-out.

4. Not finished higher than sixth since their fifth placing in 1996-97.
The current tally of 49 points after 31 games is their best return to this identical stage in 11 years.

5. Come from behind on an unequalled 13 occasions, and recovered 17 points from losing positions.
Won three, against Fulham (h), Wigan (a) and Newcastle (h), and drawn eight, in which they were behind.

6. Scored more headed goals than any other club in the division (13), while 31 of their 52 goals have been scored from set pieces
(corners, free kicks and penalties), and a league high 56% of their total have from come from within the six-yard box (29).

7. Fielded fewer players than any other club, with the exception of Blackburn (21 each).

8. Won one of the seven against the 'Big Four' this season;
drawn the last three.

9. Won one of the last five away; 1-2 over Reading at the Madejski Stadium on 24 February.

10. Quote:

The run-in is:- Bolton (h) Derby (a) Birmingham (h) Everton (a) Wigan (h) West Ham (a)

Quote:

Saturday 22nd March vs. Sunderland (H) lost 1-0 (PREM) Saturday 15th March vs. Portsmouth (A) lost 2-0 (PREM) Wednesday 12th March vs. Middlesbrough (H) drew 1-1 (PREM) Saturday 1st March vs. Arsenal (A) drew 1-1 (PREM) Sunday 24th February vs. Reading (A) won 2-1 (PREM)

KEY PLAYER NOTES




Cristiano RONALDO

is Manchester United's top scorer with 34 goals.

The Portuguese is also United's leading Premier League marksman with 25 from 25 starts, and is leading the race for the Barclays Golden Boot.

Wayne ROONEY needs one goal to total 50 in the Premier League for Manchester United.

If on the field from the outset:-

Chris EAGLES will be making his 50th club league start (Manchester United, Watford and Sheffield Wednesday).

Long term injury, Gary NEVILLE will be making his 350th Premier League start for Manchester United.




John CAREW

is Aston Villa's top scorer with nine Premier League goals.

Wilfred BOUMA and Martin LAURSEN have started every one of Villa's Premier League games this season.

If on the field from the outset:-

Nigel REO-COKER will be making his 200th career league start (Wimbledon, West Ham and Aston Villa).

HEAD TO HEAD

Manchester United are unbeaten in 22 home league games against Villa, and have not lost to them in a league clash at Old Trafford
since a 1-2 reverse on 5 November 1983, with the aid of a brace from Peter Withe.

Villa have lost more Premier League games against the Red Devils than any other club (22).

Villa were one of 12 clubs United did the double over last season;
United were the only club to do the double over Villa last term.

United are on course to double the Villans for the 10th time in the Premier League and fifth season running.

Home and away
League (inc PL): Man United 73 wins, Villa 42, Draws 34
Prem: Man United 22 wins, Villa 2, Draws 7

at Man Utd only
League (inc PL): Man United 48 wins, Villa 10, Draws 16
Prem: Man United 11 wins, Villa 0, Draws 4



...:::-----------------------------------------------------:::...

LAST SEASON'S CORRESPONDING GAME

Man United vs Aston Villa
3 (3) - 1 (0)

13 January 2007 - Ref: Hoeard Webb



Manchester United scorers:


------------------------------




Park 11

------------------------------





Carrick 13

------------------------------





Ronaldo 35

------------------------------



Aston Villa scorers:


------------------------------




Agbonlahor 52

------------------------------



...:::-----------------------------------------------------:::...

THIS SEASON'S REVERSE FIXTURE

Aston Villa vs Man United
1 (1) - 3 (4)

20 October 2007 - Ref: Rob Styles


------------------------------



Aston Villa scorers:


------------------------------




Agbonlahor 13

------------------------------


Manchester United scorers:


------------------------------




Rooney 36

------------------------------





Rooney 44

------------------------------





Ferdinand 45

------------------------------





Giggs 75

------------------------------



Sent Off


------------------------------





Reo-Coker 60

------------------------------




Carson 66



Penalty kick:



------------------------------


...:::-----------------------------------------------------:::...


REFEREE:

[ 本帖最后由 ルーニー 于 2008-3-30 03:11 编辑 ]

抢占黄金广告位，卡修不知道死哪里去了，只好朕亲自出马

血洗av fc

我预感这场要为罗马攒RP...

艹你麻痹的国际友谊赛
废柴6周赛季报销

这场估计上卡里克 安德森
下场斯科尔斯 哈格里夫斯

引用:

原帖由 ルーニー 于 2008-3-29 15:10 发表
抢占黄金广告位，卡修不知道死哪里去了，只好朕亲自出马

弄开贴？。。。拿一分老头就满足了！

芙蓉姐姐果然很牛逼:D

不要给车子任何机会:D

小胖加油

特维斯歇得差不多了 该上了吧

最后冲刺阶段了，每场都是大考验，各位曼联球员球迷咬紧牙关啊！！别泄气，加油！！

特维斯给我彪起！！！！！！

希望其他人能分担下我的责任

小胖 C罗 都飙起来

引用:

原帖由 C罗 于 2008-3-29 21:44 发表
希望其他人能分担下我的责任

分担你对芙蓉姐姐的责任