Venue Old Trafford, Saturday 3pm
Tickets £46
Last season Manchester Utd 2 Blackburn 0
Referee L Probert
This season's matches 10 Y27, R4, 3.10 cards per game
Odds Manchester Utd 2-7 Blackburn 12-1 Draw 5-1
EPL ~ Manchester United 7 Blackburn 1 - Nov 27
-
PREMIER LEAGUE 2010
VS 
Manchester United vs Blackburn Rovers
Saturday, 27 November 2010
Time: 11:00 pm - (Live)
Mio Channel 102 / 110
EPL Game 15
Manchester United :
Van der Sar, Brown, Rio, Rafael, Smalling, Vidic, Evans, O'Shea, Fabio, Evra, Park, Carrick, Berbatov, Nani, Scholes, Hernandez, Anderson, Rooney, Obertan, Macheda, Bebe.
-
Only goal difference separates Manchester United and Chelsea at the top of the table, and yet Reds boss Sir Alex Ferguson insists his team must improve.
The United manager, a stickler for demanding nothing but the best, has called for his players to “wake up” if they want to prise the Barclays Premier League trophy away from the Londoners’ grasp.
“The last two performances in the league haven’t been good enough,” Sir Alex said in Glasgow this week. “We’ve not played well. We should have lost by six goals at Aston Villa but somehow we got a point out of it. And against Wigan we made things difficult for ourselves – we could have won by five or six.
“We’ve been a bit more fortunate that some of the other sides who haven’t played well, though. At least we took something from the games.”
That fighting spirit, the ability to grind out results even when the side isn’t playing well, pleases the boss.
“At least I know I’ve got players who are prepared to do something – and did something – about situations like the one we found ourselves in at Villa Park. That says a lot about the character of the human beings I’ve got, which is satisfying for me.”
But in order to mount a serious title challenge the Reds will need to eradicate the lapses of concentration that plagued the team in the early stages of the season.
“At Everton we could have won by six or seven and ended up drawing 3-3. At Fulham we missed a penalty kick with a couple of minutes to go and then conceded an equaliser. That’s not the kind of thing we enjoy.“
Sir Alex isn’t wasting much time dwelling on those disappointments, though. United may not have hit top gear this term but the Reds are level on points with league leaders Chelsea and ahead of 18 other sides in the division.
“We can look at the points we threw away and think, ‘We could be six points clear.’ You can analyse things like that across the whole season, but the only thing that matters is where you are at the end of the season.
“We know the last two games haven’t been up to our standard but the incentive of being at the top of the league is a big one. It’s time to wake up.” -
Squad sheets: Manchester United v Blackburn Rovers
Manchester Utd
Subs from Kuszczak, Brown, Anderson, Giggs, Smalling, Hernández, Fábio, Rafael, J Evans, Obertan, Macheda
Doubtful Scholes (groin)
Injured Fletcher (ankle, 13 Dec), Hargreaves (hamstring, 13 Dec), Valencia (broken leg, Feb), Owen (hamstring, unknown)
Suspended None
Form guide WDDWWW
Disciplinary record Y24 R0
Leading scorer Berbatov 6
Blackburn
Subs from Bunn, Kalinic, Chimbonda, Benjani, Nzonzi, Emerton, Linganzi, Goulon, Hanley, Doran
Doubtful Benjani (hamstring), Emerton (hamstring), Givet (illness), Nzonzi (hamstring), Pedersen (hamstring)
Injured Grella (groin, 4 Dec), Andrews (groin, Jan), Olsson (hamstring, unknown)
Suspended None
Ineligible MB Diouf (terms of loan)
Form guide WLWWLL
Disciplinary record Y24 R1
Leading scorer Pedersen 4
Match pointers
• United have not failed to score at home since losing 1-0 to Aston Villa last September
• A defeat for Blackburn would be their 50th all-time loss to Manchester United
• Rio Ferdinand has played more minutes than any other outfield player (720) without committing a foul this season
• Morten Gamst Pedersen scored both Blackburn's goals in their only Premier League win at Old Trafford (in September 2005)
• Dimitar Berbatov scored six times in his first five league appearances of the season but has now failed to find the net in his last seven games
Probable starters in bold, contenders in light. Photograph: Graphic -
Man Utd: Van der Sar, Rafael Da Silva, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Nani, Carrick, Anderson, Park, Berbatov, Rooney.
Subs: Kuszczak, Giggs, Hernandez, O'Shea, Evans, Fletcher, Obertan.Blackburn: Robinson, Salgado, Samba, Nelsen, Chimbonda, Jones, Emerton, Dunn, Goulon, El-Hadji Diouf, Roberts.
Subs: Bunn, Givet, Linganzi, Mwaruwari, Hoilett, Hanley, Morris.
Referee: Lee Probert (Wiltshire) -
3-0, with Berbatov scoring 2 goals and 1 goal by Park. surely this is game over. wonder if Rooney get to score in this match from open play?
-
Anderson's doing a good job bossing Utd's midfield.
-
how come i have never seen man u play with such vigour and invention this season?!?!? I think it has to be the return of rooney. Carrick seems to play the anchor midfielder these days.
-
this is the best man united lineup this season thus far. now awaiting for Rooney to return to form by scoring goals. luckily man united did not rely Rooney to score goals in his absence.
-
5-0 now. Berbatov hat trick and Nani scoring a beautiful goal. still Rooney hasnt even threaten with one shot.
-
Berbatov scored 4 goals in this match. Nani is really improving as a player now. very soon he will improve and maybe try to improve his scoring prowess the way Ronaldo did. I be happy if Nani can score 10 goals in a season.
-
One more and even if Chelsea win, WE STAY TOP
-
I am hoping newcastle can draw chelsea at their own den.
-
"When Manchester United are at their best I am close to orgasm."
-Gianluca Vialli
-
wow i expect us to hit ten goal~~ go go go!!!!!!!
-
Berbatov scored 5 goals. will he be the first person since the formation of EPL, to score 6 goals in a match? Will Rooney even score a goal in this match?
-
united really cannot keep a clean sheet in this match even though united scored 7 goals.
-
Evan is the idiot la. Really should have sold him and kept Pique.
Did you see how he tries to be clever in the final few minutes after Rio gave him the ball at the back? If one of the Blackburn players stole in, it could so easily be 7-2.
-
Originally posted by Chris88110:
One more and even if Chelsea win, WE STAY TOP
no la....now the GD is equal.
-
Evans came on and gave a goal away... Hiyo this guy ah...
-
why didnt fergie play Smalling instead of Evans? wrong choice of players lar. why fergie replace Vidic with Evans for, was he injured or taken off as a precaution or simply to rest him?
-
haha i think we might not see berbatov scoring for quite a while after this game
-
I think he may score 25 goals this season. I hope he does.
-
Man utd hit 2nd gear liao.
Expected.
Reaching this part of the season man utd will hit top gear.
Steady la!
-
I've not enjoyed watching United play this season as much as I did today. Not even in the match against Liverpool. Such intensity, crisp passes and accurate shots. Blackburn were basically under siege since the first minute!
Kudos to Berba for entering the "5 goals in an EPL match" club. His understanding with Rooney hit top notch today. Their exchanges of passes were a joy to watch although Rooney did not manage to score today.
Nani did brilliant on the right flank, tormenting Chimbonda throughout the match. He should perhaps have a hat-trick of his own too.
Anderson and Carrick (surprisingly) held the middle of the field ransom and dictated the plays. I'm particularly impressed with Anderson, a real box-to-box dynamo.
Park is playing well, which usually means he will suck at the next match.
Rafael and Evra gave Chimbonda and Salgado no breathing space with their lung-bursting runs, supporting the wingers Nani and Park and Obertan.
Rio and Vidic provides stability at the back. It is of no surprise that the introduction of cockface Evans disrupted the defence and they subsequently conceded a goal. Ev ans should be sold while he is still worth a penny.
A 5-star performance from United with Blackburn reduced to sorry visitors.
-
Rooney didn't score any today but the work he put in, running here and there... I actually think it made the United players play faster...
Another thing is I hope Anderson isn't sold or load out in Jan cos the guy can actually make a lot of defence splitting passes... Something that Fletcher can't do... He just have to improve a little more on his defensive qualities and he will be a very good player I feel.
A great match from United and it sure helps a lot with the goal difference...