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

Competition

preview: sunderland v MANCHESTER UNITED

Premiership Matchday 37

Stadium of Light, Sunderland, 16.00pm GMT, Sunday 2nd May 2010.

Team News

Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand should return to the squad after training this week despite both players having groin strains.

Full-back Alan Hutton will miss the game through suspension.

Michael Turner (arm), John Mensah (hamstring) and Lee Cattermole (calf) have returned to Steve Bruce's side after injury.

Andy Reid (calf) & George McCartney (hamstring) are out.

Squads

Sunderland (from) Gordon, Carson, Bardsley, Turner, Mensah, Ferdinand, Kilgallon, Da Silva, Cana, Cattermole, Zenden, Richardson, Malbranque, Henderson, Campbell, Bent, Jones, Benjani, Meyler, Liddle.

Manchester United (from): Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Foster, Neville, O’Shea, Rafael, De Laet, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evans, Evra, Carrick, Hargreaves, Scholes, Fletcher, Park, Gibson, Obertan, Valencia, Giggs, Nani, Berbatov, Rooney, Macheda, Diouf.

Pre Match Press Conference Highlights

On the players temperament

"We showed great temperament against Tottenham last week. If you get that with three games to go then you can be confident and trust your players for the last two matches. I hope it goes down to the last game. If we get a chance to win it against Stoke, that’s all we would wish for."

On Sunderland in general

“Darren Bent has had a great season, young Fraizer Campbell is doing very well. He's getting a quota of goals and it is encouraging for him. Kenwyne Jones is also a real handful and they’ve got some good young players in their team, like Meyler and Henderson. So, we know what we're facing.

On Liverpool now showing up

Great clubs don't throw their history and traditions away for one game," "I think Liverpool will do their best on Sunday – they have to.

You depend on that resilience of the British players and players playing in British football – they know they have to go out and produce Saturday and then midweek and Saturday again. They show great attitude and character all the time.

Frazier Campbell

"I'm very thankful for the time I had at United," the 22-year-old told SAFC.com. "They are a great club and I learned a lot there. United made me the player I am today.

"But at the same time it's about my career now so I want to keep progressing and get to that next level as a footballer.

"They are a great team, it should be a great occasion and I'm happy to play against them. It should be a good game."

Steve Bruce
"It's wrong to think that I'm going to do anyone any favours. All this nonsense will be dished out but we'll go and do our job as best as we possibly can," the former Reds skipper told SAFC TV.  "They'll come up to our ground all guns blazing so we will have to be at our best to stay with them."

Head to Head

Milestones

5166th competitive fixture in club history.

SAF's 695th Premiership fixture in charge.

2126th away League fixture in club history.

127th game between the two sides.

Score Prediction

2-0 to the Reds.

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