Saturday, 6th February 2010 – KO: 15:00

This is a strange day to have a match for Manchester United. Today is, of course, the anniversary of the Munich Crash. We’ve had matches around the date in recent years but this is the first time in a while that a game has actually taken place on the day. To add further to the weirdness, four minutes into the game will be the exact anniversary of when the accident took place.

Personally, I think the match should be delayed by five minutes and allow the OT faithful to pay their respects before kick-off. I doubt five minutes is going to inconvenience anyone too much.

Anyway, onto the game itself.

Portsmouth come into this game in all kinds of trouble on the field and off it. A new owner has just come in and I must say how refreshing it is to hear someone come along and state upfront that he doesn’t have a clue about how to run a football club and wants out asap. An attitude many fans would appreciate their own owners admitting, I’m sure.

On top of all the financial problems, Portsmouth are currently rock-bottom of the Premier League. On the face of it, everything looks bleak for Portsmouth. The one thing they have in their favour, however, is a decent manager in Avram Grant.

This was the man who was given the unenviable task of replacing Jose Mourinho at Chelsea and came within an adulterous ex-England Captain’s slip of doing something even the special one couldn’t achieve – winning the Champions League.

If you look through Portsmouth’s recent resuts, it isn’t quite the horror show you would normally expect to see from the team at the foot of the League.

They lost narrowly to Fulham in midweek, they made Man City huff and puff to a 2-0 win before that, they have drawn with West Ham, beaten Sunderland in the FA Cup and even beaten Liverpool 2-0 in December. The only real mullering they have suffered in recent games was the 4-1 defeat at the hands of Arsenal.

I have been hearing predictions of a 3-0 or 4-0 win for Manchester United here today and if we maintain the form we have shown recently then that would not be a total surprise but I think this game could be more difficult than that.

I mentioned on the site the other day the massive games we have coming up in February (not least of which is an away game against Villa in midweek) and because of that, I think Fergie might just tinker with the team a bit and give some players a breather for this one.

I only hope that he doesn’t go overboard with the changes because whenever he has done that this season, it has invariably failed.

Anderson was due to play for the Reserves the other day but the match was postponed. At first, this seemed like Fergie punishing him for missing training the other week but the fact that he has resisted efforts by a couple of sides to take him on loan during January suggests that he has not completely lost patience with him and his inclusion in the Reserve match might just have been to give him a bit of match practice because he hasn’t featured since the first leg of the Man City Carling Cup tie, if memory serves me correctly and Fergie clearly has him in mind for the coming weeks.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Fletcher sit this one out and Anderson come in. Fletcher will have a very busy few weeks ahead of him.

What other changes Fergie will make is anyone’s guess but I am pretty convinced that all those who predicted a 3-0 or 4-0 win were assuming that Rooney would be playing in this one and that might not be the case. With Owen, Berby and Diouf, we have three very good strikers who are currently sitting on the bench and also need a bit of game time.

A change up front would not be a surprise.

As for the defence, Vidic looks like he will be back for this one but I seem to have said that for a couple of games recently only to find some mysterious injury has once again scuppered his return ten minutes prior to kick-off. If he is back then expect him to partner Evans.

Nani has received a lot of praise for his last three performances but I actually thought that this change in form for him started in our game against Burnley. He is definitely a different player of late and Fergie now has a decision to make.

Valencia is probably due a start but it is hard to drop a player who has been brilliant in recent games.

As for the rest, it is anyone’s guess. My own guess is this formation:-

VDS,Evra, Evans, Vidic, Rafael

Park, Carrick, Anderson, Nani

Owen, Berbatov

I am not going to make any predictions on the score because the corners market has proved very fruitful especially when we are playing at home against a team we are well fancied to beat.

I would have preferred an Over 11.5 corners market but I think this one could do the business…

The bet is 3 points over 12 corners @ 1.90 with Bet365.

After around 39 minutes, being cautious on the goal front seemed a wise move as, although the first half was largely one-way traffic, United hadn’t actually put the ball into the net.

A few minutes later, it was 2-0 to United and suddenly, a cricket score looked likely. When we went 4-0 up with 30 minutes still to play, it seemed almost cruel to let the game continue but this did represent a fantastic opportunity to not only go top of the League but to do out goal difference a few favours.

I wondered before this game whether Fergie would make a few changes but I should have worried more about Avram Grant because he did make a few changes. They play Sunderland in midweek and it appears that they did something similar to what Wolves did here earlier in the season – rested quite a few of their players in readiness for the “easier” game to follow.

Fergie did make a few changes however. Nani started on the left with Valencia resuming on the right. Gary Neville came in at right back. Dimitar Berbatov partnered Rooney up front for a 4-4-2 line up with Carrick and Fletcher in midfield.

The other news was that Vidic didn’t start, despite Fergie saying before the game that he had trained for the last few games and seemed ok.

This left Brown and Evans in defence.

All things considered, United couldn’t have asked for an easier game to go top of the league. We achieved that (although Chelsea can go back to the top again tomorrow if they beat Arsenal) and are now the highest scorers in the league with the best goal difference.

The bet won by the skin of its teeth with United getting 12 corners and Portsmouth getting just the one (but a VERY important one as far as the bet was concerned!)