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

 

preview: MANCHESTER UNITED v aston villa

Premiership, matchday 16

Old Trafford, Manchester, 17.30pm GMT, Saturday 12th December 2009.

Team News

Nemanja Vidic will make a welcome return to the United back four after a bout of the flu.

 

Michael Carrick is expected to partner the Serbian

Wayne Rooney (hamstring) and Dimitar Berbatov (knee) & Ryan Giggs will return.

 

Both Fabio Da Silva and Wes Brown (hamstring) have started training.


Aston Villa welcome back James Collins after injury.

Villa have an almost fully fit squad.

 

InjuredINJURED

Owen Hargreaves (fitness)

John O'Shea (ankle)

Federico Macheda ()

Jonny Evans (calf)

Rio Ferdinand (calf)

Wes Brown (hamstring)

Gary Neville (groin)

Rafael da Silva (shoulder)

Fabio da Silva (groin)

Edwin Van Der Sar (knee)

Doubtful

 

Referee's notebook & CardsSUSPENDED

Paul Scholes (1 game)


InjuredINJURED
Wilfred Bouma (toe)

Curtis Davies (shoulder)

Doubtful

Craig Gardner (back)

Referee's notebook & CardsSUSPENDED

 none


Yellow CardRed Card

 REFEREE TODAY:

Squads

Manchester United (from): Kuszczak, Foster, Fletcher, Vidic, Carrick, Evra, Park, Nani, Valencia, Obertan, Anderson, Gibson, Giggs, Rooney, Berbatov, Owen, Welbeck.

Aston Villa (from): Friedel, L. Young, Dunne, Downing, Warnock, Milner, Petrov, A. Young, Heskey, Agbonlahor, Guzan, Sidwell, Carew, Delph, Reo-Coker, Beye, Clark, Collins.

Pre Match Press Conference Highlights

On Michael Owen playing for England in South Africa
“Fabio has said himself, performance is the only thing that matters,” , If Michael is going to get to the World Cup it will be through his performance and I think Wednesday helps him.
“There is a view that he will not have played enough games. But he will play a sufficient number to be considered.  “That is the best chance he has got. That is all he can hope for.”
 

On Owen in the Wolfsburg game

“It was vintage Michael Owen,” said Ferguson.

“He had the cleverness to cut across the defender, forcing him to think about whether to bring him down, which would have meant a penalty and a red card.

“The guy could not afford to tackle him because at that point, Wolfsburg were still in the Champions League.

“The goalkeeper came out but Michael waited and chipped him when he went down. It was brilliant.”

 

On Vidic

Villa have two big lads up front in Emile Heskey and John Carew, but Nemanja Vidic is the one player who can cope with all that - we're delighted that he's back

Head to Head

HEAD TO HEAD RECORDS v aston villa England
A record of Competitive games played between Manchester United & Aston Villa

ALL COMPETITIVE MATCHES

P W D L F A Diff
TOTAL 171 87 36 48 310 230 +80

League Division One   League Division Two   FA Premiership
H/A P W D L F A Diff H/A P W D L F A Diff H/A P W D L F A Diff
H 57 35 12 10 122 57 +65 H 2 2 0 0 5 2 +3 H 17 13 4 0 33 8 +25
A 57 14 15 28 88 123 -35 A 2 0 0 2 0 5 -5 A 17 11 4 2 24 9 +15
TOTAL 114 49 47 38 210 180 +30 TOTAL 4 2 0 2 5 7 -2 TOTAL 34 24 8 2 57 17 +40

ALL LEAGUE MATCHES

P W D L F A Diff
H 76 50 16 10 160 67 +93
A 76 25 19 32 112 137 -25
TOTAL 152 75 35 42 272 204 +68

League Cup FA Cup
H/A P W D L F A Diff H/A P W D L F A Diff
H 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 H 6 5 0 1 13 6 +7
A 4 1 0 3 3 7 -4 A 5 5 0 0 15 7 +8
N 1 0 0 1 1 3 -2 N 1 0 0 1 1 2 -1
TOTAL 6 1 1 4 5 11 -6 TOTAL 12 10 0 2 29 15 +14

ALL CUP MATCHES

P W D L F A Diff
H 7 5 1 1 14 7 +7
A 9 6 0 3 18 14 +4
N 2 0 0 2 2 5 -3
TOTAL 18 11 1 6 34 26 +8

CHARITY SHIELD

H/A P W D L F A Diff
H 1 1 0 0 4 0 +4
A 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
N 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 1 0 0 0 0 4 +4

Milestones

 

 

SAF's 674th Premiership fixture in charge.

172nd game between the two sides.

 

Score Prediction

3-1

Join the debate below!!.....and have YOUR SAY.

   

 

       
     

 

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