United (a) Preview!

Fulham travel to Old Trafford desperate to end their current poor away record (to put it politely) but to do so would be a monumental achievement, but isn`t that what football is all about? Let`s hope we can frustrate Fergie just as we frustrated Benitez earlier this season!

"It`s not the winning or losing that counts but the taking part!"

Well something like that, let`s hope Sir Alex Ferguson takes heed tomorrow (Wednesday) evening!

Sir Alex Ferguson openly admitted that he`d rested several players at the weekend, for the visit to Derby, ahead of the clash with us, therefore we can`t help jest that he old-boy must be a little worried about Roy`s army!

It`s difficult to predict which of Fergie`s plethora of stars he`ll choose to confront us with but the latest rumour suggests that Shrek, aka Wayne Rooney, will be on the bench. On Sunday, at Pride Park, Cristiano Ronaldo played a central attacking role but we suspect he`ll revert to the wing against us.

Elsewhere, Edwin van der Sar will be between the sticks keen to extend his clean sheet record to make it a world record instead of a British record, could the best we hope for be to end his hopes?

Seems to have jumped at the chance to replace Wayne Rooney whilst the far-from-loveable Wayne Rooney has been injured. Let`s hope that with Rooney on the verge of a comeback that Tevez doesn`t sign out with a moment of glory.

Roy Hodgson takes his squad up to the north-west trying to put an end to eight successive Premier League victories for Manchester United, it`s a tall ask. For the trip it looks as if Dickson Etuhu will not be fit enough for consideration, however, Roy may ask a former United player, Erik Nevland, to lead the line against a side he was once with albeit briefly.

Rumours persist that both Paul Konchesky and Andrew Johnson will have to shrug off knocks to play.

Here at Vital Fulham we reckon there`ll not be many changes in Roy`s starting eleven and we reckon he`ll go for:-

Schwarzer, Pantsil, Hughes, Hangeland, Konchesky, Gera, Murphy, Dacourt, Davies, Johnson and Zamora.

Did our current club captain not score a winner against Manchester United whilst playing for Liverpool? Another on Wednesday would be a fantastic achievement

If you look through the record books they make sorry reading for a Fulham fan. Manchester United have beaten us on the last eight occasions they`ve played us, often emphatically and if we look at the statistics for Premier League clashes between the two sides at Old Trafford they stand at - United 6 wins, Fulham 1 win and Draws 3.

Going further back into the history books and looking at all games played at Old Trafford between the two sides, its even worse, United 23 wins, Fulham 2 wins and 3 draws.

Last year two goals from an in form Ronaldo were enough to send us back to London deflated.

The man in charge on Wednesday night is Andre Marriner.

We`re a team that has yet to win away from home in the Premier League this season, we`re travelling to play a side that hasn`t even conceded a goal in 1212 minutes of Premier League action, let alone lose a fixture. On the surface you`d have to be mad to predict a Fulham win but haven`t we always been supreme optimists? Would this not be the perfect place to bring such a run to an end? It may well be, it may well be another 2003 occasion but my head says no! The best we can hope for is a draw, possibly to grind out one of famous 0-0 draws we`ve been so fond of this season!

Next up, after the trip to Old Trafford is a home fixture against West Bromwich Albion, a fixture we should be favourites to win.

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