It does seem that since City took top spot in the league it seems that we have, more often than not, had to play our games after theirs and so have always been playing “catch-up” – I don’t know if this actually is the case or whether I am just imagining it – but it does seem this way.

However, there was a bit of a turnaround this weekend as we got our match out of the way on Saturday to reduce the deficit to two points whilst City had to sit around for two whole days awaiting their crunch match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

So, I had to watch the match last night, just to see how Manchester City coped with leading from the front in a tricky fixture against a top side which had begun to rediscover form.

And I must admit that it seemed like Manchester City were coping very well – they were 1-0 up with less than two minutes played and really should have put the game to bed within the opening twenty minutes or so – it really could and probably should have been 3-0.

However for the next seventy minutes or so, I became a honorary Chelsea fan for the evening and, whilst this sounds strange to admit, I actually punched the air when Meireles knocked in the equaliser just before half-time. Chelsea had turned the tide and City seemed to be losing the plot a bit.

The second half was almost exclusively Chelsea’s as City dropped deep and, to me, seemed more interested in maintaining their unbeaten record than actually winning the game and by the time Lampard converted his penalty kick to put Chelsea 2-1 ahead, City were in some disarray and had been down to ten men following Clichy’s sending off just before the hour mark.

At this point, I actually thought that they were destined to end the game with just nine men. Clattenburg had been producing the cards like Dynamo the magician on speed for much of the game and several City players were sailing close to the wind.

But it all ended 2-1 to Chelsea which was as good a result for us as it was for Chelsea and we now find ourselves in a position where we can actually take top spot if we can beat QPR on Sunday (which won’t be an easy task, let me add) before City take on Arsenal at the Etihad a couple of hours later.

It’s a peculiar state of affairs because we have been grinding out the results of late and generally seeming to be struggling whilst City have been blowing everyone away and it is amazing that we are still within touching distance. However, the destiny of the title is back in our own hands as we come to this crucial Christmas period where fixtures come thick and fast and generally in the type of playing conditions that some City players might not fancy too much.

Fergie said last week that he’d be happy if we’re there or thereabouts on New Years Day and at this stage, I’d wager that he’s going to get his wish.

It would probably be an over-statement to suggest that this win made up for the midweek disappointment but it was a great start.

After our early season scoring spree which came at the expense of looking vulnerable at the back in every game until we eventually got found out in the 6-1 mauling by City, we have looked a lot tighter in defence but this came at the expense of goals at the other end.

A balance needed to be found and I think we found it in this match. Clean sheets are great but give me a 3-1 or a 4-1 any day of the week.

The team looked nicely balanced for this one, especially in midfield and I think that what we saw today could well be our best set-up. Nani took the left, Valencia took the right and Carrick and Jones took the centre.

Nani hasn’t been hitting the heights of early season recently but he looked back to his best in this one, grabbed himself two goals and looked a constant threat all afternoon. Valencia played really positively and looked a lot more like his old self. However, the midfield pairing of Carrick and Jones is still relatively untried but it does make a lot of sense.

Carrick comes in for some stick from many United fans and I think that his confidence has perhaps been hit at times during his United career but when in this kind of form, he can produce some fantastic passes and is arguably our best defensive midfielder.

Jones is supposed to be a defender but his attacking instincts are there for all to see and we might just have found that reliable, all-action box-to-box midfielder we haven’t really had since Keane (hey, some people have been comparing him to Duncan Edwards – I think I’m ok to compare him to Keane!). I just think the two balanced each other out very well in this match but, with all due respect to Wolves, perhaps tougher opposition will provide the acid test.

Defensively, it was as expected with Rio and Evans taking the centre and it has to be hoped that Rio can now put a string of appearances together without succumbing to injury because that could well be our partnership for the season now Vidic is unavailable. Smalling and Evra took the full-back positions and did what they had to do (which was mostly just get the ball to Valencia and, perhaps more so, Nani as soon as possible).

Up-front, Fergie went with Rooney and Welbeck and clearly, this is one area of the pitch that still has to be decided upon but with so many of our strikers injured at the moment, Fergie’s decision was probably made for him here.

There will obviously be changes as the season progresses but I just hope that from here on in, the changes will be fewer – perhaps two or at most three per game and that this general line-up is what we see more of.

In any case, if this heralds the start of another goal-spree for Nani and Rooney then the future of the season looks a lot more promising than it did last Wednesday night. Let’s hope we can keep it up.

With the midweek exit from the Champions League still undoubtedly creating something of a depression around the place, the players will have to lift themselves this afternoon as we attempt to stay in touch with Manchester City at the top of the table and keep our Premier League title challenge on track.

Looking at our injury list going into this one makes for quite alarming reading as it seems that Vidic, Rafael, Fabio, Anderson, Cleverley, Berbatov, Owen and Chicharito are all injured  - throw in a couple of midfielders and a goalie and that would be a pretty decent Premier League outfit right there.

Looking at Wolves’ injury list… no injuries – and there have been times when I have felt that Mick McCarthy gets no luck.

Anyway, games between us and Wolves have tended to be pretty close affairs and they did beat us last season (although that was at their place) and I tend to think that this afternoon will be the same story. I’m expecting us to go on a goal-spree at any time but until it happens, it is probably best to assume that we will continue to struggle to score goals and two is as many as we can hope to see from us this afternoon.

Which then means that it rests on the defence to make those goals enough to win the game. We’ve given some sloppy goals away this season but, prior to the Basle game, we had started to look a bit meaner in defence, however, we now obviously have to contend with life without Vidic for the rest of the season which tends to suggest that we might see a few more softer goals scored against us from here on in.

I really have no idea how things will go today and at this point, I’d just be extremely happy to see us come through with three more points on the table and no more injuries.

I have a feeling that both teams will score today though and that will form the basis of the bet.

The bet is 2 points Both Teams to Score @ 2.2 with Betfred.

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse for us, Sir Alex has confirmed that the injury Vidic picked up during our Champions League match against Basle is as bad as it first appeared – he’s ruptured his cruciate ligament, will need an operation and that’s his season over.

It’s another massive blow for us as we do look a lot more solid with Vida in the defence – and stats suggest that this is the case too. He has played in ten games this season and we conceded just three goals in those games. In the thirteen games which he didn’t play, we conceded nineteen goals.

With Rio not getting any younger (and becoming more and more injury prone himself) it is going to be interesting to see what Fergie does about the defence from here on in.

In terms of experience, Rio and Evans is the best option but the Smalling/Jones partnership is seen by many as being the future so perhaps it is as good a time as any to give those two a run in there?

The slight problem, of course, is that Fergie has employed both Jones and Smalling in the full-back position on occasion and, in the case of Jones, he is even being used as a midfielder at times.

Personally, I think that a lot of our problems this season are down to too much tinkering on Fergie’s part. Sometimes, due to injuries, his hand has been forced but that hasn’t always been the case – sometimes he just seems to do it for the sake of it.

I think now is the time for a big decision and, once made, stick with it and see if we cannot turn this massive set-back into a positive.

Tonight I’ll be watching our lads try to overcome Basel en route to the last sixteen of the Champions League but there’ll be someone missing, someone who normally sits beside me during every United match – my son.

No, he hasn’t died. It’s worse than that.

You see, my son plays football for a local U14s team and someone there won a competition meaning that the team gets to wave that big circular Champions League flag which appears in the centre circle prior to kick-off.

Unfortunately, it is at City’s ground – Eastlands/The City of Manchester Stadium/The Etihad Stadium (or whatever the hell it’s called this week) and filled with the exciting prospect of appearing on telly, plus the possibility that he might actually “meet” some of the Bayern Munich players (he tells me he’s not too bothered at meeting any of the City players but I’m not sure I believe him) and it was an offer too good to refuse for the little fella.

So I’ll send him off to City’s ground with the warning to try not to laugh at the end of the match when it is confirmed that City’s Champions League dream is over at the group stage.

Meanwhile, I’ll be watching United and hoping that ours isn’t over at the group stage too.

Well, it doesn’t seem like five minutes since I was sitting here writing about our masterplan for winning this group with a couple of games to spare which would render this one all but irrelevant but we’ve hit a couple of bogeys in this competitions since then and suddenly a result from this, our last game of the group stage, becomes crucial.

A draw tonight will see us through. A win tonight could see us win the group – but not if Benfica win against Otelul at home. Basically, it is looking very much like we’ll be playing to finish second in the group which really isn’t great for a team that is as experienced as us in Europe after being given what looked like a “dream group” at the start.

I saw the interview a couple of weeks ago where Fergie stormed out after a journalist suggested that the English clubs had “struggled” in Europe this season and I could see both points of view. The English teams have struggled by our standards so far this season but I could also see why Fergie was disgusted by the comment because there is an insinuation that English clubs only have to turn up and take their three points without the 90 minutes battle on the pitch in between.

Of course there is a “struggle” in that respect and if people expect to go into a Champions League game (the cream of Europe, let it not be forgotten) and have an “easy” game then they are underestimating and being completely disrespectful of the achievements of the teams that have qualified for the competition. No one gets into the Champions League by being a useless side and none are pushovers.

I made the point in a recent post that perhaps some of the players couldn’t get their juices flowing for these “lowly” group games anymore but my view has changed somewhat of late and I do wonder if it is the fans who don’t get going of late. These are massive, massive footballing occasions. Perhaps not Champions League semi-finals but there are plenty of teams that dream of getting into the Champions League whilst us Man Utd fans perhaps take it all for granted these days.

We turn up, we qualify and then we play against the glamour clubs in the latter stages – that’s the way it has been for several years now but I think we take it for granted that the players don’t actually need our support to do so anymore.

Of course, this is an away tie and Basel’s crowd will be outnumbering our own by a considerable amount anyway – we had our chance at OT and we blew it. We now do have to hope that the players give their all where perhaps we have not but should the worst happen, I hope that fans will not totally exonerate themselves from blame.

Ok. Rant over.

In this game, we have a bit of a striker dilemma which I actually believe will help us. Chicharito is injured, Berba is injured, Owen is injured. That leaves Rooney and Welbeck and I hope that Fergie just goes with Wayne right in front of goal – where he should be all the time as far as I am concerned.

Forget Rooney the midfielder, Rooney in behind, Rooney out on the wings, Rooney starting from defence – just stick him up front – right in that 20 yard square area directly in front of goal – that is how he had his record-breaking scoring run a couple of seasons ago and is the way to go as far as I am concerned.

Played there, Rooney will score the goals required – it is then up to what has become once again a pretty miserly defence to keep Basel out at the other end.

So, I’m not going to go overboard on our scoring this evening but I’m going to rely on us keeping Basel out and doing what need to be done at the other end.

I think this bet will win.

The bet is UNDER 2.5 goals @ 2.00 with Victor Chandler.

For all the good points of this season so far (and I don’t know if this is just me or…) there appear to have been an almost equal amount of low points that have largely overshadowed those good points.

The midweek debacle against Crystal Palace was another of these to add to the 6-1 thrashing by City and the generally lacklustre nature of our Champions League campaign so far this season.

Basically, I think us United fans need something to cheer us up in this game this evening. Some goals would be nice because our scoring has almost completely dried up ever since Fergie was critical of the team for being “too cavalier”.

Personally, I think I’d like a bit of cavalier back right now.

Anyway, onto this game. Villa Park has been a happy hunting ground for us for quite some time now – I can’t actually remember the last time we lost there but our last three visits have all been drawn after a long succession of victories.

Villa themselves are having an indifferent season so far. Few defeats but probably too many drawn games has been the story of their campaign so far. Apart from Newcastle (who they drew with) they haven’t really played any of the top teams at home so far this season but have still only managed three wins from six games there and two of those were against strugglers such as Wigan and Blackburn.

Strangely, it could be argued that our away form has actually been slightly more impressive than our home form so far this season (I’m talking across all competitions here, not just the league) and we remain unbeaten on our travels so far.

So, what will happen here this evening? Well, I think there’ll be a reaction from the players in this one. We have been creating a lot of chances but not putting them away and I do feel that someone is going to be on the receiving end of a big scoreline one game soon – perhaps not this one but I can certainly see us scoring two this evening.

I’m going for goals this evening and the bet is going to be 2 points OVER 2.5 goals @ 2.05 with Bet365.

Without wanting to sound disrespectful to Crystal Palace (and with thoughts of what Leeds did to us here in the FA Cup a couple of years ago still fresh in the memory) the Carling Cup draw appears to have been kind to us once again for this, our quarter final match.

Not that I would have been too bothered had we drawn City, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool in this round from a progress point of view but it might have meant that Fergie wouldn’t be quite so bold with some of the selections he will undoubtedly make this evening and that would have been a shame for the lads concerned.

I’m talking, of course, about players like Paul Pogba, Ravel Morrison and (possibly) Zeki Fryers who have been given their first team chances away from home so far in the competition but tonight might be expected to make their Old Trafford debuts and from the start, rather than from the bench.

Of course, none of us really knows what Fergie has in mind for the game this evening and trying to guess his team selection for any match these days is a little like trying to guess Saturday’s Lottery numbers, only you don’t get seven million quid for getting it right.

What we do know, however, is that he will be playing a team which he believes will be good enough to win the match.

Crystal Palace are not the force they once were and came quite close to being relegated from the Championship last season and this season is not shaping up much better for them as they sit in mid-division and without a win in their last six games but, somewhat bizarrely, they have beaten two of the better teams in the Championship (including leaders Southampton) to get to this stage of this competition.

However, I simply have to believe that we will have too much for them at Old Trafford this evening. The team Fergie puts out will have a smattering of “kids” but there will also be a lot of experience and quality in there. Berbatov was used in our last Carling Cup game and it seemed to rejuvenate him. Players such as Park and Valencia could also be included.

We have won both of our previous Carling Cup games 3-0 so far and it would seem unlikely that we’ll repeat that scoreline again but Crystal Palace are struggling for goals at the moment (the same could be said about us, I suppose) and have scored just two in their last seven league games.

I suspect Lindegaard will be given his chance in goal and, given competition for places, whoever Fergie chooses in defence will be giving everything to ensure that a clean sheet is kept so this won’t help Palace in their quest to get on the scoresheet so I’ll be very surprised if they score tonight.

The bookies are pretty convinced that we’ll win this one comfortably and that it will be a high scoring game, though. We certainly could win this 2-0 or 3-0 (or even beyond that) but I’d really like to see who will be playing upfront before going overboard on that kind of bet.

For this one, I am going to have a tentative bet on the corners market. I can see a lot of the play being in Palace’s half and if this doesn’t result in goals for us then it could result in plenty of corners.

The bet is 2 points Manchester United -4 on the Corner Handicap @ 2.00 with Paddy Power.

I’d been out with my family today, as I usually do on Sundays when there’s no United match on and so had not heard any news at all all day.

On arriving home, I booted up the Sky Sports page to see what had happened in the Liverpool v Manchester City match only to be greeted by a story saying that Gary Speed had “passed away”.

Huh? Passed away? 42 year old ex-footballers in the prime of their lives don’t just “pass away” – surely something was amiss here?

However, on further reading, it was confirmed that Gary Speed had died in what looks to have been suicide.

Sometimes in life, things happen which stop you dead in your tracks – and this is one of those times.

Now, obviously, I cannot claim to have any personal attachment to Gary Speed in any way – he wasn’t even an ex Manchester United player – he was actually an ex Leeds player – an integral part of the very Leeds team that pipped us to the League title way back in 1992, no less. But I do know that he was one of the most likeable men in football and, from all accounts, seems to have been just as popular with everyone off the pitch, as it were.

Happily married with two kids, having what must have been his dream job and seemingly a generally enviable lifestyle, it is hard to imagine what drove Gary to this but I suppose the full details will surface at some point in the future.

In the meantime, for what it’s worth, RIP Gary Speed and condolences to his family.

Apparently Liverpool and City drew 1-1 …. but on a day like today, who cares?

With all due respect to Newcastle, I bet few people expected this fixture to be a sort of “top of the table clash” at this start of the season but Newcastle have been going great guns so far and, like us, have only suffered defeat at the hands of Manchester City but it has to be said that they made a better fist of their match against City than we did.

However, I did have a feeling that they were becoming a bit stretched when they played Everton just before the international break and that lack of strength in depth will probably result in their downfall and as we enter the busy month of December, they could well get found out and start to settle to something like their “normal” position in the table.

But for now, they’re full of belief and, provided last weekend’s defeat hasn’t adversely affected them too much, then they’ll come to Old Trafford with the feeling that they can finally get something from us there (they haven’t beat us at Old Trafford for the best part of forty years).

The biggest problem with this one is that we all know pretty much what to expect from Newcastle but the same cannot be said of Manchester United right now and whereas last season it was our away form which was iffy whilst our home form was impeccable, this season, it has almost tended towards the reverse and the midweek draw against Benfica was another disappointing day at the office.

That’s probably an exaggeration but I think it’s fair to say that we haven’t looked as good at home as we did last season save for perhaps that game against Arsenal right near the start of the campaign.

The main problem for me this season is that the team has had to change too much from game to game and this has made us extremely difficult to predict – I am not even sure what our “best eleven” is any more and I’m not even sure if Fergie himself knows.

What we do know now is that Anderson is set for another long absence due to injury and is not likely to feature for another three months or so. There seems to be a possibility that we won’t be seeing Tom Cleverley again in 2011 which is another blow.

Whether this in turn means that we will see players like Young and Rooney employed in central midfield again remains to be seen but there does seem to be a feeling that Fergie is happier with the more standard Carrick/Fletcher partnership now that both have recovered from their own problems.

The defence has also changed just as much as our midfield so far this season and I still don’t really know what our best back four is.

What is beyond doubt though is that both of these departments will have to perform today because Newcastle aren’t where they are by luck – they are a hard-working side, highly organised and are more than capable of scoring goals.

I’d obviously like to believe that we will win here this afternoon but I think that we might have to score a couple if we are to do so because I do expect Newcastle to score and that belief is going to form the basis of my bet because I think the price represents decent value.

The bet is 2 points Both Teams to Score (Yes) @ 2.00 with Bet365.