United v Aston Villa: Preview

11 December 2009 14:08
NEMANJA Vidic will return to the Manchester United starting line-up as the Reds injury crisis starts to ease. Michael Carrick is still going to be required to deputise alongside Vidic at centre-back for the Old Trafford encounter with Aston Villa. However, with Vidic recovering from a flu virus, Wayne Rooney (hamstring) and Dimitar Berbatov (knee) getting over minor knocks and Ryan Giggs available after being rested, Ferguson does have more options, even if the game comes too early for Fabio Da Silva and Wes Brown (hamstring), who have started training. Meanwhile, Ferguson has told Michael Owen not to give up on his World Cup dream. Owen is hoping to retain his starting spot following his memorable hat-trick for in Tuesday's Champions League win over Wolfsburg. Although it has shot the 29-year-old back to prominence, the general view is that his efforts have come too late to get him on the plane to South Africa next summer. Fabio Capello has overlooked Owen completely since the friendly defeat in France, which will be two years ago by the time England are next in action, probably against Egypt, on March 3. In that time, Jermain Defoe has established himself as the back-up to Wayne Rooney, who is certain to be in Capello's 23-man squad, while Owen hardly fits the bill of a bulldozing front-man, such as Emile Heskey or Carlton Cole. Nevertheless, Ferguson thinks Owen could still force his way in, and insists the former Liverpool striker will get enough chances to impress over the next few months. Fabio has said himself, performance is the only thing that matters, said Ferguson. If Michael is going to get to the World Cup it will be through his performance and I think Wednesday helps him. Click here to make your predictions in our M.E.N. league There is a view that he will not have played enough games. But he will play a sufficient number to be considered. That is the best chance he has got. That is all he can hope for. While England's World Cup fate is clearly not Ferguson's concern, he does understand that if Owen scores enough goals to reach his fourth trip to the greatest tournament on the planet, United will have been the beneficiaries. Owen has scored so often down the years, his first United hat-trick will not have provided a particular confidence boost. However, with his third goal in particular, when Owen collected Gabriel Obertan's short pass and raced towards the Wolfsburg goal from halfway before expertly chipping home, Ferguson saw the killer instinct that was evident so early in his career. It was vintage Michael Owen, said Ferguson. He had the cleverness to cut across the defender, forcing him to think about whether to bring him down, which would have meant a penalty and a red card. The guy could not afford to tackle him because at that point, Wolfsburg were still in the Champions League. The goalkeeper came out but Michael waited and chipped him when he went down. It was brilliant. Meanwhile, Aston Villa central defender James Collins returns to the squad after injury. The former West Ham player has been sidelined for the past month with thigh and groin problems but has now returned to training. Villa boss Martin O'Neill must decide whether to recall his £5million signing or keep faith with Carlos Cuellar who has impressed in recent weeks alongside Richard Dunne. O'Neill has no fresh injury worries as Villa look to win at Old Trafford for the first time in 26 years. Manchester United (from): Kusczak, Foster, Fletcher, Vidic, Carrick, Evra, Park, Nani, Valencia, Obertan, Anderson, Scholes, Gibson, Giggs, Rooney, Berbatov, Owen, Welbeck.[LNB] Aston Villa (from): Friedel, L. Young, Dunne, Downing, Warnock, Milner, Petrov, A. Young, Heskey, Agbonlahor, Guzan, Sidwell, Carew, Delph, Reo-Coker, Beye, Clark, Collins. United league form: WLWWW Aston Villa league form: LWDDW Key opponent: John Carew - Big man could expose inexperience in United defence Prediction: United 3 Aston Villa 1 - The Reds are playing well despite their selection problems Agree with the prediction? Have your say. Click here for all the latest odds from Betfred. [LNB]

Source: Manchester_EveningNews