Manchester United vs Hull City: Preview

Merry Christmas, after a few days of relaxation the hard graft of the Premier League gets underway once more. Manchester United face a trip to Hull City and the KC Stadium later today, with Chelsea slipping up once more and the defeat last week against Fulham, it is imperative we return to winning ways. A positive result would leave us a mere two points adrift of the league leaders, unthinkable a week ago.

We can start with the good news, we have defenders fit! During the press conference on Thursday, Sir Alex Ferguson retorted to questions about the United defence, stating,

“We rushed Fabio back a little bit, but given the situation we find ourselves in sometimes you have to do that,” admitted Sir Alex, while “Rafa’s only trained for a few days but he will be involved on Sunday,” Ferguson confirmed.

However, Jonny Evans, John O’Shea, Gary Neville and Rio Ferdinand are still out.

So, in a return to the usual 4-4-2, Rafael will likely to be back in the side at right-back, Patrice Evra will almost certainly line up at left-back, there are two spots to be filled in the centre of defence, Nemanja Vidic and Wes Brown have almost recovered from hamstring and calf injuries respectively. It would make sense for one or both of them to start given the humiliation last week, if not then expect Michael Carrick to have one more outing at the back. Edwin van der Sar has still not recovered from a knee injury, so Tomasz Kuszczak will continue in goal.

With a defensive crisis, the two most consistent midfield performers were dropped to the backline, but as the situation at the back improves, Darren Fletcher and Michael Carrick should be moved to their more natural positions. We have missed both, in particular the drive Fletcher provides to the midfield. Alongside one or other would have to be Anderson or Darron Gibson. Paul Scholes should be dropped to the bench after his dismal showing last week.

On the wings will be Antonio Valencia on the right, and either Ji-Sung Park or Gabriel Obertan on the left. Ryan Giggs is a doubt as he still has a hamstring niggle, while Nani has an ankle problem.

As for the strike partnership, Wayne Rooney will lead the line along side Dimitar Berbatov. The Bulgarian hitman came on as a sub against Fulham and was a bit more effective than Michael Owen who will no doubt drop to the bench.

Hull will no doubt prove to stern test given our form, two defeats in the last three. Sir Alex is also expecting a tough test, saying,

“Hull will be encouraged by our injury problems, and I’m sure they’ll have a go at us.”

Hull manager Phil Brown has no real injury worries, other then Jimmy Bullard and Ian Ashbee, only Nick Barmby is a doubt after he suffered a calf strain in the defeat to Arsenal and looks likely to miss out. An unchanged line-up other than that is to be assumed.

The most dangerous player Hull possess, is undoubtedly Brazilian forward Geovanni, he can produce the unexpected and has bags of quality, it just depends on whether he turns up on the day. Arguably though Hull’s player of the season so far is Anthony Gardner, the former Spurs defender has been in terrific form for the Tigers and will look to help his team to a clean sheet today.

Hull are unbeaten in six matches at home, but having scored just 17 goals in the league this season, they hold second worst tally in the league and are without a win in four games and haven’t scored in three Thus, a United side out with something to prove would look to take advantage of such poor momentum. Victory for United.

Prediction: 2-0 United

Probable Line Up: Kuszczak, Rafael, Carrick, Vidic, Evra, Valencia, Fletcher, Anderson, Park, Berbatov, Rooney.