My! My! My! What an evening of entertainment awaits us in a few hours' time. Manchester United against Arsenal has never been bigger than this! United travel to the Emirates Stadium today in search of a result that will take them to their second consecutive Champions League final--not many teams have achieved that! After the stroll in the Park our lads enjoyed at the weekend, Manchester United players will be fooling themselves if they think that today's game will be as easy as the one on Saturday. Having said that, we have the ability to make the game very easy for ourselves--and that is to score first!
United will feel that they should have left OT last week with at least a 2 goal advantage as they really had the Gunners on the ropes. Manuel Almunia so to it that United will once again have to do things the hard way to achieve something.
The slender lead that we boast of tonight will only count for as long as we do not concede. It's therefore good news that United's possible captain of the night Rio Ferdinand has been passed fit following his injury in the reverse fixture last week. Rio and Vida need to be at their best if we are to shut out a team that only plays football to attack. The threat of Robin Van Persie should be a problem to our very own Patrice but hopefully, he'll deal with it! United have Wayne Rooney, Evra and Tevez a yellow card away from missing the final so besides the scoreline, you hope that Wayne will do something extra-ordinary--stay the entire 90 minutes of a heated match without a booking. It means that simple things like throwing the ball back where a free-kick is to be taken should be avoided. Evra is a defender, so more often than not, he will be involved in tackles. Hopefully, none of them is as badly timed as the one he had on Gerrard in the box on March 14.
Sir Alex has an almost full strength squad to choose from so hopefully, he picks the right team. I don't know who of Berbatov or Tevez he will start but I'd like to see him start Tevez as he will offer he Arsenal defence something to think about whilst Berba will solely concentrate on link-up play. Anderson must start as well as Carrick and Fletcher. I think the rest of the team pretty much picks itself. Throughout the season many have talked about the prospect of United wining all trophies. At this stage, it won't be as hurting for me if we lose in the final. United have for so long got beaten at this stage by inferior opposition and I think Arsenal is not too difficult a game for us especially when we start the match a goal and a half ahead. Chelsea and Barcelona can on their days beat us but if we drop at this stage, it will be gutting to say the least! We've beaten some good sides already to get this far. Arsenal have only met Porto and Villarreal as their strongest opponents. So Come On United!
Before I pen off, there these records that Arsenal have not conceded a goal in Europe at the Emirates this season but United are good at firsts! It's a case of fingers crossed and about BELIEF!
Labels: UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
