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      MATCH PREVIEW

MANCHESTER UNITED v WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Barclays Premier League
Saturday 29th December 2012, 3pm
Old Trafford

MATCH NOTES

The last time Albion played a game on December 29 was in 2007 when two goals from Kevin Phillips helped the Baggies to a comfortable 5-0 win over Scunthorpe United at The Hawthorns.

Albion's 33 points is their highest-ever tally at the halfway stage of a Premier League season.

Albion have won three of their last five away league games. Only United have better away form over the last five matches.

Albion's last six league games: Queens Park Rangers (A) 2-1; Norwich City (H) 2-1; West Ham United (H) 0-0; Arsenal (A) 0-2; Stoke City (H) 0-1; Swansea City (A) 1-3

United's last six league games: Newcastle United (H) 4-3; Swansea City (A) 1-1; Sunderland (H) 3-1; Manchester City (A) 3-2; Reading (A) 4-3; West Ham United (H) 1-0

TEAM NEWS

Albion

Defenders Jonas Olsson (groin) and Goran Popov (hamstring), and midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu (hamstring) are all major doubts while Claudio Yacob (hamstring) and Steven Reid (shin) are definitely out.

George Thorne has been recalled from a loan spell at Peterborough United and goes straight into the squad.

Squad from: Foster, Myhill, Daniels, Jones, Reid, McAuley, Olsson, Tamas, Dawson, Ridgewell, Popov, Mulumbu, Dorrans, Thorne, Brunt, Morrison, Gera, Odemwingie, Fortune, Long, Lukaku, Rosenberg.

Manchester United

Wayne Rooney is definitely out with a knee injury, while doubts remain over the availability of Rafael, Nemanja Vidic, Nani and Anderson.

United forward Danny Welbeck should return after illness, and Ashley Young and Phil Jones are expected to overcome minor injuries.

Shinji Kagawa could be named among the substitutes after two months out with a knee injury.

Squad from: Lindegaard, De Gea, Smalling, Vidic, Wootton, Ferdinand Evans, Buttner, Evra, Cleverley, Giggs, Fletcher, Scholes, Tunnicliffe, Carrick, Kagawa, Young, Hernandez, Welbeck, Van Persie.

QUOTES

Baggies' assistant Head Coach Keith Downing:

"I think you are looking at their strengths and weaknesses and Sir Alex has mentioned there is a cause for concern with the goals they have conceded.

"But they have top quality players. Vidic is coming back and in Smalling and Jones, they have a lot of individual quality there.

"I'm sure that is something they will be working on but there is an opportunity to go there, particularly after the two wins, with a freedom to our game and hopefully we can give them a few problems."

www.sportinglife.com

United defender Jonny Evans:

"We can’t take anything for granted. I remember a couple of years ago West Brom drew with us 2-2 at home and it was a tough game. We played them towards the end of last season and found that they were a really hard team to break down.

"What they do is they get the two defensive units really tight. It forces you to go wide and try to get crosses into the box. They are very hard to break down.”

www.manutd.com

MATCH ODDS

Result

Albion Win: 17/2, United Win: 2/7, Draw: 9/2.

First Goalscorer

van Persie 5/2, Hernandez 7/2, Welbeck 5/1, Kagawa 6/1, Young 8/1, Long 9/1, Lukaku 9/1, Anderson 10/1, Giggs 10/1, Powell 10/1, Scholes 10/1, Valencia 10/1, Fortune 12/1, Odemwingie 12/1, Rosenberg 12/1, Cleverley 14/1, Gera 14/1, Brunt 16/1, Morrison 16/1, Fletcher 20/1, Dorrans 20/1, El Ghanassy 20/1, Jones 22/1.

REFEREE

Jon Moss (West Yorkshire) - Has refereed one Albion game so far this season, the 2-0 victory at home to Everton in September. Moss took charge of three Albion games last season - The 2-1 Carling Cup defeat at Everton in September, the 2-1 defeat at home to Swansea in February and the 1-0 win over Queens Park Rangers at The Hawthorns in April.

TICKET INFORMATION

Albion's allocation of 1,800 tickets is completely sold out.

WEATHER FORECAST

Cloudy with a 30% chance of rain, 7°C

FIXTURE HISTORY

Albion's first league meetings with Newton Heath - who would in time become Manchester United - took place in the First Division during the 1892/93 season. The first game between the sides, at Stoney Lane, ended in a goalless draw. Just one week later, in the return game at United's North Road ground, Albion ran out 4-2 winners thanks to two goals from Archie Bostock and one each from Roddy McLeod and Billy Bassett.

The Baggies' biggest win against United came in April 1968 when they recorded a 6-3 victory at The Hawthorns with the late great Jeff Astle netting three of the Albion goals. Other big wins for Albion include 5-1 at The Hawthorns in 1925/26, and 5-3 at Old Trafford in December 1978 - a game that is generally recognised as one of Albion's greatest ever performances.

United's best win over Albion came at Old Trafford in April 1970 when they ran out easy 7-0 winners against an Alan Ashman led team. Other notable wins for United include 5-0 in 2008/09, 5-1 in 1985/86, 5-3 in 1966/67 and another 5-1 in 1951/52.

Albion’s last league victory over the 'Red Devils' came at The Hawthorns on March 31, 1984 when Cyrille Regis and Steve MacKenzie scored the goals which gave the Baggies’ a 2-0 win over a Ron Atkinson led United. Since then Albion have picked up just two points out of a possible 48 against the men from Manchester.

The Baggies' last victory at Old Trafford came in the aforementioned December 1978 game. Goals from Tony Brown (2), Len Cantello, Laurie Cunningham and Cyrille Regis helped Albion to a very well documented 5-3 win.

Albion and United have met each other 12 times at Premier League level with the men from Manchester winning 10 of the games.

LAST LEAGUE MEETING AT OLD TRAFFORD

Manchester United 2-0 Albion
Barclays Premier League
Sunday 11th March 2012, 2:00pm

Manchester United: De Gea, Jones, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Young, Carrick, Scholes (Pogba 72), Welbeck (Cleverley 77), Rooney, Hernandez. Subs not used: Amos, Berbatov, Giggs, Park, Rafael Da Silva.

Goalscorers: Rooney 35 & 71 (pen)

Albion: Foster, Tamas, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell, Odemwingie, Andrews (Scharner 72), Morrison, Mulumbu, Brunt (Shorey 72), Fortune (Long 77). Subs not used: Daniels, Tchoyi, Dorrans, Cox.

Booked: Olsson 49 (foul)

Sent-Off: Olsson 66 (foul, second bookable offence)

Attendance: 75,598

Referee: Lee Probert (Wiltshire)

Wayne Rooney's double swept Manchester United to the top of the Barclays Premier League for the first time this year as West Brom were defeated 2-0 at Old Trafford. Rooney took his seasonal tally to 26 with a goal either side of the interval as United took advantage of Manchester City's loss at Swansea to assume that familiar position at the head of affairs on the title run-in. And with United at relegation-haunted Wolves next Sunday, City could find themselves four points adrift before they take to the field again, against resurgent Chelsea, at the Etihad Stadium on March 21.

That it could turn out to be such a pivotal day should not come as a surprise. Since United won at Tottenham a week ago, the battle to be champions has been condensed into who wins the derby on April 30, with the eight games in between largely an irrelevance. However, the traps that have to be negotiated on the path to glory are not insignificant as United, even with all their experience, so nearly found out and City did.

The Old Trafford outfit were still trying to adjust to a line-up with only one conventional winger in Ashley Young when Keith Andrews slid in to reach Liam Ridgewell's low left-wing cross. It seemed the Irishman was sure to score. Instead, he prodded his effort wide. Then, when Chris Brunt had touched a 30-yard free-kick into his path, Andrew let fly with a thunderous shot that would have found the bottom corner had David de Gea, not for the first time in recent games, not made a fine, full-length save. It was the cue for Sir Alex Ferguson's side to awake from their slumber and Young to have an impact. If Nani is going to be out for a few weeks as pre-match rumours suggested, Young is going to be a key man and needs to find the form he produced in his first few weeks as a United player. Together with skipper Patrice Evra, Young tormented the right side of West Brom's defence. The former Aston Villa man had a shot beaten away by Ben Foster, then ran on to Danny Welbeck's back-heeled through ball before cutting a cute cross back into the box which Jonas Olsson managed to scramble away.

When United's opener came, it was a wonder Young was not involved. The Premier League could have been forgiven a sharp intake of breath as Foster immediately appealed for offside as Rooney touched home Javier Hernandez's cross from what did appear to be an illegal position. After what went on at Bolton on Saturday, further controversy was the last thing they needed. Happily, in this instance, TV replays showed the officials had got it absolutely spot on as Rooney timed his run to perfection before netting for the fourth time in a week. Peter Odemwingie had been a subdued presence during the opening period. But when he went over Evra's half-hearted challenge, he was convinced West Brom should have had a penalty. He might have been right too, as Evra did not play the ball and dangled a leg out for the striker to fall on. It was another of those fortunate moments United make a habit of capitalising on. This time, they could not do it as Hernandez drove a shot against a post, Rooney's overhead kick went straight to Foster and, most startlingly of all, Welbeck slid his shot wide of an open goal after the entire West Brom defence, including their goalkeeper, had got caught out by Scholes' inspired long pass.

Booked at the start of the second period for a foul on Rooney, Olsson brought his afternoon to an early conclusion when he was beaten to Welbeck's pass by Hernandez and chopped the Mexican down instead. Within five minutes, the hosts had their second, Rooney again the scorer, slotting home a clinical penalty after Andrews had fouled Young. Among the plethora of substitutions that followed came Paul Pogba's for Scholes, which tends to shoot down suggestions that the teenage Frenchman has agreed to join Juventus in the summer. Young and Hernandez both wasted chances to reduce the goal difference advantage City have in their favour at present. However, it may not come down to that. And at Molineux next Sunday, it will hardly please under-fire Wolves boss Terry Connor to know United could really turn the screw.

Sporting Life

CURRENT CONNECTIONS

Ben Foster spent five years at Old Trafford but made just an handful of first team appearances. The Leamington-born keeper had joined United from Stoke City in July 2005.

Albion's reserve goalkeeper Luke Daniels started his career at Old Trafford before moving to The Hawthorns in 2004 following his release by United.

Mike Phelan joined Albion on a free transfer from United in 1994 but his two year spell at The Hawthorns was hugely disappointing. He re-joined United as a first team coach in 2001 and is currently assistant manager to Sir Alex Ferguson.

Alan Fettis, who had a short spell on loan at The Hawthorns in 1995, is United's Academy goalkeeping coach.

PAST CONNECTIONS

Amongst the players to have turned out at various levels for both clubs are: Arthur Albiston, Jack Banks, Peter Barnes, Henry Boyd, Garth Crooks, Laurie Cunningham, Arthur Fitton, Johnny Giles, Jonathan Greening, Graeme Hogg, Jim Holton, Tomasz Kuszczak, Paul McShane, Mick Martin, Remi Moses, Michael Nardiello, Jimmy Nicholl, Billy Richards, Kieran Richardson, Bryan Robson, Maurice Setters, Arthur Smith, Jimmy Stanton, Luke Steele, Mickey Thomas and Ronnie Wallwork

Larger than life 'Big' Ron Atkinson managed both clubs; Ex-Albion boss Nobby Stiles was a United player; Stuart Pearson played for United and later became a coach at The Hawthorns; Ex-United boss Jimmy Murphy was an Albion player during the 1930's; Former Albion player Brian Whitehouse later coached at Old Trafford; Mick Brown was assistant manager at both clubs under Ron Atkinson; Former Baggies' boss Johnny Giles started his playing career at United; England legend Bryan Robson started his career at The Hawthorns in the early 1970's before a record £1.5million move took him to Old Trafford in 1981. Robson returned to Albion in 2004 taking over the managerial hotseat from Gary Megson; Current Blackpool boss Michael Appleton played for both clubs and coached at various levels at The Hawthorns.

ALL-TIME LEAGUE & CUP RECORD VS MANCHESTER UNITED

 VENUE P W D  L F A
 Home 60 28 13 19 109 93
 Away 60 12 16 32 75 121
 Total 120 40 29 51 184 214

LAST TEN MATCHES AGAINST MANCHESTER UNITED

DATE COMPETITION H/A F-A GOALSCORERS  GATE
Sun 11 Mar 2012 Premier League A 0-2 Rooney 2 (1 pen)  75,598
Sun 14 Aug 2011 Premier League H 1-2 Long - Rooney, Reid (og)  25,360
Sat 01 Jan 2011 Premier League H 1-2 Morrison - Rooney, Hernandez  25,499
Sat 16 Oct 2010 Premier League A 2-2 Evra (og), Tchoyi - Hernandez, Nani  75,272
Tue 27 Jan 2009 Premier League H 0-5 Berbatov, Tevez, Vidic, Ronaldo 2  26,105
Sat 18 Oct 2008 Premier League A 0-4 Rooney, Ronaldo, Berbatov, Nani  75,451
Sat 18 Mar 2006 Premier League H 1-2 Ellington - Saha 2  27,623
Mon 26 Dec 2005 Premier League A 0-3 Scholes, Ferdinand, van Nistelrooy  67,972
Wed 30 Nov 2005 League Cup A 1-3 Ellington - Ronaldo (pen), Saha, O'Shea  48,924
Sat 07 May 2005 Premier League A 1-1 Earnshaw (pen) - Giggs  67,827

 

 
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