Article by Mark Graham, Editor, Record Keeper & Official Reporter @ MUFCINFO.COM.

preview: MANCHESTER UNITED v birmingham City

fa premiership, Matchday 01
Old Trafford, Manchester, 13.30pm GMT, Sunday 16th August 2009.

Team News

Wes Brown has recovered from a thigh problem, but may lack match sharpness.

Jonny Evans, Ben Foster & Gary Neville are all carrying knocks.

Nani (shoulder) played for Portugal in midweek and should play.

Alex McLeish has several defenders missing Liam Ridgewell, Martin Taylor, Scott Dann, Giovanny Espinoza and David Murphy are all unavailable.

Midfielder Lee Bowyer is suspended.

Marcus Bent is sidelined by a hamstring problem.

Pre Match Press Conference Highlights

On Young players

""It’s a fresh start, a new challenge for us,”. “We have a lot of young players that want to do well. That’s the area in which I am most encouraged. Our critics are misreading the situation with our young players developing and improving. There are good signs there. We have a very strong squad. We’re where we want to be.

Squads

Manchester United (from): Foster, Ferdinand, Evra, Brown, Carrick, Tosic, Scholes, Berbatov, O'Shea, Fletcher, Park, Rooney, Nani, Fabio, Valencia, Anderson, Owen, Kuszczak.

Birmingham City (from): Hart, Taylor, Carr, Roger Johnson, Queudrue, Vignal, Parnaby, Larsson, Carsley, Ferguson, McSheffrey, Damien Johnson, Fahey, McFadden, Jerome, O’Connor, Phillips, Benitez, Sammons, Wilson.

Head to Head

Milestones

101st match between the two sides.

91st League meeting between the two sides.

SAF's 659th Premiership fixture in charge.

Wayne Rooney requires 2 goals to reach a century in United colours

Score Prediction

3-0 and Owen, Rooney & Berbatov to score.

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