Manchester United just can't quite catch a break at the moment in terms of injuries. Just when you think we now have the depth to challenge on two major fronts, the captain gets sidelined for 8 weeks and then Antonio Valencia suffers a knock.
The latter though should be back much sooner but every game counts at this level (or at least if you have the ambitions of United) so you can't afford to be in a situation where you are one injury away from having Scott Wottoon fill in against seasoned EPL strikers.
Fingers crossed we don't get to that situation.
We limped past Newcastle to get into the last 16 of the League Cup and as fate would have it, we were drawn against Chelsea away for the next tie. It means we get to play Chelsea twice in the space of 2 days at the end of next month. It certainly shouldn't be a problem if we have some good assortment of players available to juggle between the two games.
Spurs are next up in the league at home in a fixture that we have usually won. What we do not need tomorrow is for Spurs to break that jinx. The three points could mean that we'll end the day at the top of the table for the first time since that almighty collapse against Everton last season. Of course that is all because the league leaders travel to the Emirates to play a team that has shown enough so far to raise a few eye brows.
A lot of the team that will play will have had a week's rest following the League Cup in midweek.
That said though, we're back to the puzzle that Sir Alex had on his hands at the start of the season. Does he play both Wayne and Robin in attack at the same time, and if so, what about Kagawa? Injury to Rooney helped the manager with that for a month and Robin has really staked a claim for himself in the side by notching an impressive 5 goals in 5 games including a match winning hat trick. Logic therefore points to him starting tomorrow. Whether Wayne did enough in midweek to win himself a place, we shall see.
At the moment, we've not really been convincing in terms of our play and performance. Blogs, podcasts and match reports have for the past three years pointed out how our midfield has been overrun by opposition as mere as Southampton. Its that uncertainty when we don't have the ball that has made us fodder for teams. At the moment, we're notching up the results--which is all I can ask for---but against better teams, we could be made to pay the price. Remember, tomorrow is one of those days when we're up against dangerous midfields since Spurs have a one Moussa Dembele who run the show at OT for Fulham earlier this season. It'll be an embarrassment of sort and a sort of acknowledgement of weakness if our midfield allows him to do the same tomorrow.
Indeed, the difference tomorrow could come down to just that.
He's to another Home Win.
ONWARDS AND UPWARDS!
