Where: Old Trafford, Manchester, England.
When: Saturday, December 15st,2012.
Time: 1200 noon GMT.
Referee: C.Foy
Festive time this season has brought out two extremes of results for these two teams. While the Red Devils are currently “High Flying” with 2 victories clear of the rest on top, the Black Cats have been the exact opposite with just two wins in their last six matches sitting 3 places above the relegation zone!
There’s one word that the Red Devils all around the world think about going into the match today, “Revenge”! Thanks to the Sunderland fans last year for doing the “infamous Poznan” upon the UTD team when City had won the title last year in the dying seconds of the match, it has certainly aroused such tremendous desire within entire UTD cohort to thrash & pour misery upon Sunderland team that is already struggling. Rooney says “When the fixtures come out, I look for three games – City, Liverpool and Everton.” Rooney admitted in his recently published autobiography, My Decade in the Premier League. “This time I checked the Sunderland game. If there is one team that I want to beat this season, it will be Sunderland.”
All these have led to Sir Alex cooling it off as Revenge, but deep down we expect his feisty & fiery attitude to think of the same. There were lots of positives for UTD side from their last outing with City, where their keeper De Gea was commanding inside the box and finally had justified his selection for the derby. The attack was brilliant in drilling down a feeble City’s defense, Young combined well with Evra & Valencia –Rafael combination sparkled once again. Cleverley stamped his authority in the middle of the park.
This video tells it all
The Black Cats & Martin O’Neil would have been relieved having got a much needed 3-1 win over the mid-week elevating them to 16th spot on the table. But clearly, their problems have been quite abundant. They have scored less; they have conceded average, their tactics still going haywire. We do not know if the tactics failure is due to lack of player support, because Martin O’Neil has been a manager that has proved himself during his time with Aston Villa. There has been no one person who has been firing in with the goals, which could be why they find themselves in this situation. Going into the match, O’Neil needs to find that extra to overcome the prowess of high flying Red Devils.
Team News
For Manchester UTD, Nemanja Vidic is back in the squad two months following knee surgery, which itself came just five games into his comeback after a ruptured cruciate. Jonny Evans (hamstring) is missing, whilst Shinji Kagawa (knee) returns to training next week.
O’Neill could be forced into two changes as winger Adam Johnson (dead leg) and defender Danny Rose (ankle) could both miss out after picking up injuries during the re-arranged match at the Stadium of Light. Defender Phil Bardsley and skipper Lee Cattermole (both knee ligaments) are not in contention while O’Neill is hopeful frontman Steven Fletcher can shake off a niggle with his ankle.
Prediction
We at Soccersouls are sure that UTD will once again be put to test because of the changes that will happen defensively, but UTD are expected to breeze through this Sunderland side. We see a no way out for Sunderland, winning the match at Old Trafford, especially when Revenge is on 70,000 minds inside the Pitch & Stadium today. Can football once again sparkle out a surprise?
UTD’s (in favour) – 4-2