December, arguably the most important month in the title race, begins with this weekend.
Alex Mcleish’s Aston villa host defending champions Manchester utd in Saturdays late kick off. Manchester utd come into this match with a shocking result in carling cup against Crystal Palace. If last 3 seasons results are taken into account, this will be another
tricky fixture for Sir Alex Ferguson’s men.
2008-09
Aston villa 0 – 0 Manchester utd
2009-10
Aston villa 1 – 1 Manchester utd
2010-11
Aston villa 2 – 2 Manchester utd
So this will be a testing trip for the Red Devils. Manchester United along with their rivals Manchester City are the only team unbeaten away from home this season . This will be an intriguing battle to watch.
A look at Manchester United’s goal scoring record this season shows an interesting story.
Manchester United in 8 matches (before Manchester derby)
Goals scored – 23
Goals conceded – 6
Manchester United in 4 matches (after Manchester derby )
Goals scored – 4
Goals conceded – 1
As the numbers tell Manchester United have gone a bit defensive in their approach after that derby defeat. But they have tightened up defensively as well and only conceded one goal (that too controversially). The focus has shifted from playing an enterprising brand of football to getting the job done. As shown in the last season, this Manchester utd team knows how to win ugly and accumulate 3 points.
This match will also mark the return of Ashley Young to his former club and spice up the encounter. Ashley Young scored for villa in the same fixture last season.
Player missing for Manchester utd : Welbeck (doubtful), Anderson (knee), Michael Owen (thigh), Tom Cleverley (ankle).
Villa (from): Given, Guzan, Hutton, Cuellar, Collins, Dunne, Clark, Warnock, Beye, Herd, Delph, Bannan, Jenas, Petrov, Ireland, Albrighton, Bent, Heskey, Agbonlahor, N’Zogbia, Weimann.
United (from): De Gea, Lindegaard, Smalling, Jones, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evans, Evra, Nani, Valencia, Gibson, Carrick, Fletcher, Park, Giggs, Young, Rooney, Hernandez
We’ll leave you with some of the passing stats from last years game at Villa Park courtesy of the new Quick Stats area here at EPLIndex.com (Subscribe Now)
