Manchester United Squad vs Reading
4:14pm – Wednesday night’s narrow, nervy 1-0 defeat of West Ham saw United remain a point clear of neighbour’s City at the top. Chelsea’s second consecutive 0-0 draw means the Manchester sides have a 6 and 7 point cushion to the chasing pack. Two horse race? Reading played out a narrow 1-0 of their own, ultimately losing out at Aston Villa (another late goal conceded). The results leaves them on 9 points from 13 games, firmly routed in the bottom three.
With second-placed City playing at 3pm, United could enter the 5.30pm kick-off in second place. With the derby looming, a win – and thus entering next weekend’s clash a point clear – would be most favourable. A home win would still leave Reading in the relegation zone, but they are in danger of being cast adrift if results (only 1 win so far this season) do not improve.
Fergie on Reading: “They’re definitely a club that are improving and although they’ve not had a lot of wins, they’re always hard games against them. I expect what we got at Norwich – a really difficult game.”
4:30pm – The Manchester United team news for Reading has just been released and is below:
MANCHESTER UNITED:
Staring XI: Lindegaard, Rafael, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Carrick, Fletcher, Anderson, Young, Rooney, van Persie
Subs: De Gea, Jones, Smalling, Cleverley, Giggs, Hernandez, Welbeck
READING FC:
Starting XI: Federici; Cummings, Shorey, Mariappa, Morrison; Leigertwood, Tabb, McAnuff, Robson-Kanu; Le Fondre, Roberts
