In my preview of the season, I had Chelsea down to finish second in the Premier League. I felt that we would win it but Chelsea’s experience would see them finish above City again and that they would take us right down to the final game or two.

However, Chelsea have been a shadow of their former selves for much of this season and currently sit in fourth and a massive twelve points behind us. With City winning yesterday, that makes them fifteen points off the top spot and at this stage, they will do well to overtake Spurs for third as they trail them by some seven points.

What appears to have happened over recent seasons is that Abramovich has tightened the purse strings and all those top notch players they bought for hundreds of millions a few years ago are now reaching the autumn of their careers but they haven’t been replaced with anywhere near the same quality.

When the cash has been splashed, it hasn’t always worked out and perhaps the most spectacular example of this is the case of Fernando Torres. A few years ago, I had him and Drogba as the best two strikers in the league but since the 2010 World Cup, Torres has gone from being recognised as one of the best strikers on the planet to a an embarrassing £50million flop.

The reverse fixture this season at Old Trafford will be remembered as much for Torres’ miss as much as anything else.

There. Now I’ve set Torres up to bang in a hat-trick against us this afternoon.

I think what the game against them at OT proved though was that, on their day, Chelsea are still capable of fantastic football and whilst we ran out 3-1 winners on the day, we rode our luck on several occasions and the score could have been anything you like up to and including 8-8.

As per usual, we stagger into this game with a hospital ward full of casualties and therefore it is difficult to say who will start although there has been some encouraging news on Cleverly and Young.

Valencia has been on fire of late and so I expect him to resume on the right but if Nani has not shaken off the injury that kept him out of our last game then perhaps Young will make a reappearance on the left but I believe Nani is fit and so Fergie might just opt to keep Young on the bench for this one.

I would also expect to see Rooney come back from his own injury for this one but Fergie has a dilemma as to who will play up front alongside him unless he ducks the issue completely and goes for a five-man midfield.

Chelsea have their own selection problems, especially in defence, as I believe Terry is injured and Ashley Cole is suspended meaning that new signing Gary Cahill could well make his debut in what will be a pretty untested and therefore vulnerable back four.

One thing that did surprise me about the Manager’s press conference was the fact that we have not beaten Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the league for ten years but I do believe that if there was ever a good time to put that particular stat to rest then now is that time.

Stamford Bridge used to be a fortress and any visiting team knew that if they came back with a point, they’d had a good game but that aura of invincibility is now fading and Chelsea have already lost three of their eleven home games this season (Villa, Liverpool and Arsenal) and, Manchester City aside, the teams they have beaten there have all been teams they would usually be expected to beat.

I believe that we have to win this afternoon. It is perhaps a game which City and Spurs will be hoping to see us drop points in and a draw would be an excellent result for those two teams. However, if we can take the points then we go back on top alongside City with another tough fixture behind us.

Rather than get too fancy with the betting, I think that the price on the straight United win represents good value and that’s what I will be going for this afternoon.

The bet is 2 points United to Win @ 2.75 with Coral.

Well, today is transfer deadline day and, as I type, I am watching Sky Sports News desperately trying to turn what has been a pretty boring transfer window into something exciting… “News just in! Joe Bloggs has signed for the Dog & Duck for a fee reported to be around two pints of lager and a packet of crisps”…

For our part, it appears that we have said goodbye to a couple of players (Mame Biram Diouf and Ravel Morrison) and although there have been murmurs of a couple of relatively unknown players coming in, there’s nothing to get too excited about as a Manchester United fan on the transfer front.

Anyway, this has nothing to do with the most important thing about today and that is the visit of Stoke this evening.

Stoke are enjoying another solid season in the Premier League but I suspect their current eighth place is as high as they will get this season. Their away form has been a bit hit and miss so far but a 0-0 at Anfield a couple of weeks ago was a decent result for them but generally, when they have played the better teams away they have been beaten by comfortable margins (3-0 against City, 3-1 against Arsenal).

Our home record, whilst not as good as last season, is still the third best in the league and we have beaten Stoke on the three occasions that we have faced them here in the Premier League although the 2-1 victory in our last game against them just over twelve months ago was the closest of them all which probably illustrates the progress Stoke have made over the last few years.

As usual, the main problem we seem to have is on the injury front and I have not been able to establish whether Rooney and/or Nani will be back for this one although Rooney does look the more likely of the two to appear this evening. After being an unused sub in our FA Cup match against Liverpool, Ferdinand also looks like he could come back into the centre of defence and if that is the case then I think I would like to see him partner Smalling who just looks generally better in the air than Evans.

In fact, this could be a key factor for us in this match as the reports are also that Lindegaard has suffered some kind of injury and so De Gea might continue in goal. Now, De Gea is a United player and I want him to succeed here and become a legend like Schmeichel and Van Der Sar but right now, I’m afraid that I have to watch him with my fingers over my eyes every time our opponents fling the ball in from dead-ball situations… and that is exactly what Stoke like to do the most and if De Gea is in net then it will only encourage them, I feel.

However, I still believe we will win here tonight but I wouldn’t go crazy for the 1.33(ish) price the bookies are offering for an outright win for us and I do believe that this could be a close scoreline, especially if it is correct that Nani and Rooney won’t feature.

The key to the bet on this one is whether or not we can keep a clean sheet, I feel. A 2-0 win for us would not be out of the question but I would like to see exactly what the defence is looking like before going for something like that.

At this moment in time, I am generally of the view that both teams will score this evening and that is going to be the bet because I think it offers value on what I see as a 50/50 toss of a coin type situation.

The bet is 2 points Both Teams to Score @ 2.1 with Bet365.

Apologies for the lateness of this post but I have been hearing all kinds of things all week about who is not going to be fit to play this afternoon and I wanted to leave it as late as possible to see if there was any kind of clarification.

At various stages of the week, I had heard that Jones, Carrick, Nani and then yesterday Rooney were all struggling for fitness following the Arsenal game.

Obviously, Jones looked a major doubt but Nani also hobbled off in the Arsenal game and Rooney appeared unable to even walk at the end after a series of clattering challenges.

Anyway, I am no wiser this morning and I do wonder if Fergie is going to take a bit of a gamble in this game and rest those players who might not be 100% fit so that they might be ready for the league games.

The Premier League is clearly our priority this season and with Stoke and then Chelsea coming hot on the heels of this one, we have two stern tests ahead of us in that competition and I am now of the view that Fergie will put out a team which he believes will push Liverpool here today but if it goes wrong then it won’t be viewed with enormous disappointment.

In any case, our record at Anfield of late hasn’t been great and it did look for long periods in our league game earlier this season that we were largely second-best and whilst we managed to salvage a 1-1 draw on that occasion, Liverpool probably felt that they deserved the win.

Liverpool themselves have been a bit inconsistent of late. They put in two very good performances to overcome Man City over the two legs of the Carling Cup semi but those games sandwiched a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Bolton and a mediocre 0-0 against Stoke.

I think we could win here today, even if all those listed above are out injured but it will require whoever steps in to hit the ground running and perform to their best.

Making any kind of prediction here is difficult but I think the game could see more goals than our league fixture and that is going to form the basis of my tentative bet.

The bet is 1 point Over 2.5 goals @ 2.00 with Bet365.

Naturally, after the drubbing we gave Arsene Whinger’s boys at Old Trafford earlier in the season, this one has attracted all kinds of speculation as to what might happen this time at the Emirates and whilst nobody believes we will see a similar scoreline most do expect there to be several goals in the game again.

Personally, I have a feeling that it could go the opposite way with both teams playing very cagily.

After a disastrous start to the season followed by an incredible, Van Persie-inspired run of results, Arsenal are currently going through another little dip and the prospect of them not even qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in (fifteen?) years is looking a very real possibility.

However, it has been on their travels where Arsenal have suffered most; at the Emirates, they have been very strong and have only suffered the one defeat there this season (their very first home game of the season against Liverpool when Arsenal were struggling and Liverpool were full of optimism for the new season).

They have conceded just six goals at the Emirates in the league but, somewhat unusually for Arsenal, have scored just sixteen which from ten games is not the stuff Arsenal have been renowned for down the years and they do rely far too heavily on Van Persie to provide the goals.

As for us, well, the injury situation does appear to be resolving itself which means that Fergie will have a decent number of players to choose from and it is just as well because this match represents the start of a tough set of fixtures which we will do well to come through unscathed.

I actually have a feeling that Fergie won’t pick what we might by now consider to be his “strongest side” for this one. Park might get the nod somewhere in midfield (he seems to have a happy knack of scoring against Arsenal) but as for the rest, it’s anyone guess but I think there’ll be a couple of surprises.

I’ve been on a bit of a roll with the bets of late and I suppose that run has to end at some point and it could well be today because I’m going to go slightly against the general consensus for the bet here.

The bet is 2 points Under 2.5 Goals @ 2.1 with BetVictor (the new name for Victor Chandler).

After last weekend’s fireworks against City this one has a lot to live up to but the players really do have to get back into winning ways in the League because it has to be remembered that, prior to the City win, we witnessed two pretty mediocre displays which got us all the points we deserved.

Bolton, meanwhile, have managed to finally put some more points on the board in their last couple of games and two away wins in their last two away fixtures means that they arrive here in some semblance of form.

However, trips to Old Trafford have not been particularly profitable for Bolton for years now (they last won here over nine years ago) and we have won the last eight at Old Trafford – sometimes by comfortable margins but in recent years the scoreline has been much closer and none more so than this fixture last season which we won by a solitary goal (Berba scored the late, late winner).

I’d like to think that our “blip” is over for a while now and that we’ll get back to business here and win by a decent margin but news coming from Fergie that the likes of Jones and Smalling are “doubts” don’t inspire me with great confidence – how many more injuries can we withstand? Personally, I think that this might be Fergie playing his little games and I expect at least one of those two to make the starting line-up, if not both.

Anyway, we really should have the beating of Bolton here. Surely Blackburn provided us with the “home shock” of the season and we’re not going to have another within the space of two consecutive home games. In fact, I think we might score three in this one and win by a fairly comfortable margin. Unfortunately, the bookies feel the same and so the prices on offer are miserly.

So, I think that being slightly contrary with the bet will either blow up in my face or prove rather profitable so I’m going to go against the grain a bit.

As for the team selection… well… it’s never been an easy job at the best of times but with Fergie now plucking players out of retirement and naming them in the squad just an hour before kick-off, it has become even more difficult so I’m edging my bets on this one too and I’m going for the following:-

Schmeichel, Irwin, Bruce, Stam, Neville, Giggs, Scholes, Keane, Beckham, Cantona, Van Nistelrooy.

That lot should take care of Bolton.

The bet is 2 points Under 3.5 goals @1.97 with Bet365.

Had this game taken place a couple of weeks ago then I think most United fans would have gone into it with the confidence that we could get some sort of revenge for the 6-1 drubbing but after two defeats and, worst still, two pretty abject displays in our last two games then it really is difficult to think of one good reason to believe that we can win this one.

On the other hand, there are plenty of reasons to believe that City will win.

For a start, they are arguably the best team in England at this moment. The league table backs this up. The way they beat us at OT earlier in the season adds further weight to the argument.

City have turned the Etihad Stadium into the kind of fortress that teams such as ourselves at OT and Chelsea at Stamford Bridge have done in recent years. In fact, in their last twenty home league games, they have dropped just two points (Fulham, last February).

City are the defending FA Cup Champions whilst our own record in this competition in recent years has been pretty underwhelming.

Despite Mancini’s frankly laughable comments that he didn’t know if he had eighteen players available for this one (with the Toure’s going to the African Cup of Nations) he has a formidable starting eleven of fully fit players (although Barry is suspended and Yaya Toure is out so that does mess their normal midfield up rather a lot) whilst we have an injury list which, whilst improving of late, is still ridiculously long and includes at least two players who would no doubt have started in this one (Vidic and Fletcher).

So that’s the case for Manchester City in this one and I think it’s fair to say that an awful lot of boxes are ticked there. The head can only come to the conclusion that City will win this one even if the heart begs to differ.

However, I have been supporting United long enough to know that we can never be written off. Some of our best ever results have come out of the blue (no pun intended). Indeed, there may even be the possibility of some degree of complacency on the City part that we can take advantage of but perhaps that would be grasping at straws.

There is also a possibility that we may view the FA Cup differently this season. In recent seasons, I have had the feeling that Fergie hasn’t treated the competition very seriously – of course he would like to win it and sends out a team he believes is capable of winning the match but it seems to be a case of either win the game or lose the game… but don’t draw the game because a draw means a replay and another fixture to contend with as we attempt to compete for the bigger prizes such as the Premier League and the Champions League.

This season, we don’t have the Champions League to worry about. Yes, we have the Europa League and I don’t know what Sir Alex’s private thoughts are on that tournament but, speaking as a fan, I think I would rather see us lift the FA Cup than the Europa League trophy. It could well be the case that a draw in this fixture so that we can get City back to an OT replay would not be seen as such a bad thing.

What I would like to see in this game more than anything is all the players being played in their “proper” positions. Due to injuries, Fergie has tried with mixed success to put square pegs into round holes in several games recently but I would like to see something along the lines of the following (if Smalling is fit):-

Lindegaard, Rafael, Smalling, Rio, Evra, Valencia, Carrick, Jones, Nani, Rooney, Hernandez in the kind of 4-5-1/4-4-2 type formation which has served us well.

Jones in midfield might be slightly iffy but I’m convinced that he is better/safer there than in central defence at the moment – he had a nightmare in there against Newcastle the other night and had some kind of hand in all three of their goals.

If Smalling doesn’t make it back then it could well be that Fergie goes with Anderson in midfield and brings Jones back into the centre of defence and, if that is the case, then I think we could have trouble and if Fergie goes with De Gea ahead of Lindegaard then City will simply bombard us with crosses all afternoon long. Neither De Gea nor Jones seem particularly good at dealing with crosses (and this is where we miss Vidic massively).

Anyway. What’s going to happen here today? I think the answer has to be: “anything could happen”. I doubt very much that we’ll be seeing another 6-1 scoreline or anything even close and some of the bookies actually seem to think that we’ll have a fairly low-scoring game. I suppose it’s possible that it will be cagey but I’ve got a feeling that there’ll be more fireworks here today.

May the… erm… “best” team win!

The bet is going to be a tentative 2 points on OVER 2.5 goals @ 1.92 with Bet365.

I remember, many moons ago, when Newcastle were our closest title rivals and they beat us 5-0 in this very fixture (that match was actually over 15 years ago now but for many a United fan, it can be remembered as vividly as yesterday).

However, it would appear that Newcastle have been made to pay for that one ten-fold as we have generally beaten them ever since – their only other win over us was way back in 2001 when they ran out 4-3 winners in a match made infamous by Roy Keane’s attempted punch at Alan Shearer!

Of course, they somehow held us to a 1-1 draw just over a month ago at Old Trafford but that was when they were playing well and I think it is fair to say that luck wasn’t on our side that day.

Newcastle started this season extremely well and for a time, the Toon Army were tottling off to bed with little dreams of Champions League football next season but it was probably only a matter of time before the run ended and they found themselves in a more “Newcastle-like” position in the league and they currently sit in seventh place so by my reckoning, they still have a place or two to drop.

Now, having said that, they will probably stuff us 5-0 again tonight but I’m tending to think that we’re not going to suffer two defeats in a row.

As for our team selection, there were a couple of surprises in the Blackburn match with Anderson and Rafael coming back from injury and, of course, Rooney being dropped but I expect him to be back for this one tonight with possibly the in-form Berbatov alongside him.

The defence and midfield remains as tricky as ever to predict so I’m not even going to attempt it.

The main thing is that we need three points tonight in order to stay in touch with Manchester City who, of course, beat Liverpool 3-0 last night to go three points clear again.

I think we can do it tonight. Our away form has been extremely good this season (in fact, we have the best away record in the league by quite a margin) whilst Newcastle’s recent home form has been patchy.

The hard thing to predict is whether or not we will be able to continue our run of clean sheets in away games. We have won the last five without conceding a single goal because if we can do that then I believe that this will be a low scoring game – possibly 1-0 or 2-0 to Manchester United. However, I think that the run will come to an end tonight and we will need to score at least two to pick up the three points.

For this reason, I’m going to have a stab at the Over 2.5 Goals market.

The bet is 2 points Over 2.5 Goals @ 1.87 with Bet365.

Today, Sir Alex celebrates his 70th Birthday and there’s nothing he’d like more than three points in this early kick-off against low-flying Blackburn when they turn up at Old Trafford.

Steve Kean will probably just be glad that the vociferous element of his own “supporters” will likely be drowned out here.

Blackburn’s away record hasn’t actually been that bad recently (better than their home form actually) which must say something about how their own fans’ protests are having an effect on the team. Anyway, that’s all by the by. Que sera sera and all that.

Having watched us smack in ten goals without reply in our last two games, Blackburn will no doubt be reminded of this fixture last season when we beat them 7-1. To be fair, such a scoreline seems unlikely because whilst Blackburn are losing and drawing far too often, they aren’t actually conceding too many and aren’t getting beaten by many.

As usual, we have our own problems going into this one in terms of injuries and it is our defence which is looking a bit ragged at the moment after news that Smalling has some kind of viral illness (tonsillitis according to Fergie) and Evans will be sidelined by the injury he picked up in our last match. With the FA Cup tie against City looming large, it seems like a gamble for Fergie to play Rio in this one so I wouldn’t expect him to play, even if fit but Jones has apparently recovered from the knock to the face he took a couple of games ago and could resume in defence but it’s looking likely that he will be partnering Carrick in there.

Evra will take the left but the right could see Fryers given another chance to shine.

The midfield, therefore, is likely to be Nani, Park, Gibson and Valencia.

Upfront could be interesting and I wonder if we might see the Berbatov/Rooney option restored from the start here or even Rooney again rested with Hernandez playing alongside Berbatov from the start.

Given the number of injuries we’ve got at the moment, that doesn’t look like too bad a line-up and I fancy it would be more than enough to take care of Blackburn but they do have some decent players of their own and I still can’t shake the feeling that this one has “banana-skin” written on it somewhere.

However, with City playing tomorrow, this is an excellent opportunity for us to take the top spot for at least a day and put City under some pressure as the “chasers” and surely no mistakes will be made on our side.

I think we will win this game but I’m not sure that it will be by another landslide and so backing Blackburn in the Asian Handicap might prove profitable.

The bet is 2 points Blackburn +2.5 @ 1.84 with Victor Chandler.

For obvious reasons, time is at a premium today so I’m going to make this one very brief.

We’re playing well at the moment whilst Wigan continue to come generally close in many games but mostly leave without a cigar. They have enjoyed some decent results in recent games though and do seem to be getting their act together after a disastrous string of defeats.

However, I just think that at Old Trafford, we have to be looking to come away with a comfortable win this afternoon. Unfortunately, the bookies are thinking exactly the same and the prices for us on the -1.5 AH are around 1.5 and the Over 2.5 goals is around 1.4 so there’s nothing being given away there.

For this one, I’m going to bet that we get at Wigan from the off and score fairly early on.

The bet is 2 points on the first goal to be scored within 0 – 27 minutes @ 1.80 with Victor Chandler.

A tricky fixture awaits us this evening as we make the trip to Craven Cottage to take on one of those strange sides that are often cannon fodder away from home but prove incredibly difficult to beat when on their home turf.

In fact, we have only managed to beat them three times in our last nine visits there (our last victory coming almost four years ago now) and they have beaten us twice… the other four were obviously draws.

They have been beaten there already this season by Everton and Tottenham but have beaten Liverpool and held City to a draw (although I seem to remember that City were 2-0 up and cruising in that game before they took their foot off the gas and allowed Fulham to get back into the match – although Fulham clearly deserve credit for taking advantage of the situation and battling to the end).

What makes this one a little harder to predict is the feeling that Fergie will probably make a few changes this evening. He has stuck with the same team for two games running which is unusual in itself – three on the bounce would almost be unheard of.

Given that Hernandez played half an hour against QPR over the weekend, I’d say it’s 99% certain that he will start tonight should Fergie go with the 4-4-2 type formation but it is the midfield areas that are hard to predict. The Valencia, Carrick, Jones and Nani quartet has looked fantastic in our last two games but I have a feeling that Fergie might decide to rest Jones now and perhaps bring in Park. Ashley Young might even get the nod over Valencia.

Due to injuries, the back four probably picks itself at the moment so I’d expect Smalling, Evans, Rio and Evra with De Gea in goal.

As for Fulham, well, there does seem to be a bit of a changing of the guard there since Jol took over as manager and whilst I hear that Bobby Zamora is fit to play, rumours that there have been a fall-out between player and manager won’t go away and the striker is not guaranteed a place tonight.

One player that will surely be eager to impress tonight is Bryan Ruiz and it will be interesting to see how he gets on.

Anyway, prediction time. A tough game is expected and we’ll do extremely well to come back with the three points and even if we do win, I don’t think it will be by many and I do expect Fulham to score.

The bet is 2 points Both Teams to Score @ 1.91 with Coral.