Manchester United vs Cardiff City
Barclays Premier League
Tuesday 28 January, 2014
19:45 KO (BST)
Old Trafford, Manchester
“Ole will get a fantastic reception and deserves it. He is a legend here for what he has done – his goal to win the Champions League, and all-round he has been a great ambassador for United, and rightly so he will be given a great reception.” – David Moyes.
“I would like to play anywhere. I will try to assist and score – that’s what I like to do. I will try to help the team as much as I can. I just wanted to go to a place where I knew I’d feel happy and I’m happy now. United is a massive club.” – Juan Mata.
Starting XI from: David de Gea, Anders Lindegaard; Rafael da Silva, Phil Jones, Jonny Evans, Chris Smalling, Alex Buttner, Patrice Evra; Antonio Valencia, Adnan Januzaj, Ashley Young, Ryan Giggs, Darren Fletcher, Tom Cleverley, Shinji Kagawa, Juan Mata; Danny Welbeck, Javier Hernandez
Doubts: Wayne Rooney (groin), Rio Ferdinand (knee), Robin van Persie (thigh), Marouane Fellaini (wrist), Michael Carrick (ankle)
Unavailable: Nani (hamstring), Nemanja Vidic (suspension)
Top scorer: Wayne Rooney (9)
Most assists: Wayne Rooney (9)
Home record: P11 W5 D2 L4 F14 A10 Pts17
Home form: W L L W L W
Home record vs Cardiff: P14 W5 D6 L3 F29 A23
“The former manager just always installed into us ‘dream big’, and maybe unrealistic, because you never know it might happen. For me to play at Man United was never in my wildest dreams. So now I’m there as a manager. It just comes by coincidence. You just end up there.” – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
“We’re rock bottom and we need to get a win. We need to get the three points and to start with that on Tuesday would be brilliant. It’s going to be a hard game, we know that. They’re trying to obviously lift themselves but we’re looking forward to it.” – Aron Gunnarsson.
Starting XI from: David Marshall, Joe Lewis, Simon Moore; Fabio da Silva, Mark Hudson, Mark Connolly, Steven Caulker, Ben Turner, Kevin Theophile-Catherine, Declan John, Kevin McNaughton; Gary Medel, Aron Gunnarsson, Jordan Mutch, Magnus Wolff Eikrem, Mats Daehli, Craig Noone, Don Cowie, Kim Bo-Kyung, Peter Whittingham, Craig Bellamy; Peter Odemwingie, Frazier Campbell, Tommy Smith, Andreas Cornelius
Doubts: n/a
Unavailable: Andrew Taylor (calf)
Top scorer: Frazier Campbell (5)
Most assists: Peter Whittingham (4)
Away record: P11 W1 D3 L7 F7 A21 Pts6
Away form: L D L L L L
Last meeting
Cardiff 2-2 United (24-11-13)
Officials
Referee: Craig Pawson.
The 34-year-old official has taken charge of 5 Premier League matches this season, dishing out 15 yellow cards. He has awarded 1 penalty and is yet to send a player off. This will be his first visit to Old Trafford – and by far the highest profile fixture he has overseen in his refereeing career thus far.
Assistants: D Cann, M McDonough.
Fourth Official: Howard Webb.
Notes
Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie and Marouane Fellaini are all back in training and could feature.
Should he feature, Robin van Persie will make a 50th league appearance for Manchester United.
A win would move United onto 1,001 Premier League points at home – making them the first club to break the 1,000 point barrier.
Cardiff have drawn 2 and lost 6 of their last 8 Premier League away fixtures.
35% of Cardiff’s Premier League goals have been scored via a header – the highest number in the division.
United have won the last 10 matches at Old Trafford versus sides in the bottom 6.
Cardiff have earned just 27 yellow cards this season and are yet to have a player sent off – the best disciplinary record in the Premier League.
Danny Welbeck has scored 6 goals in his last 7 Premier League appearances.
United 1/4 Draw 9/2 Cardiff 11/1
RedMancunian predictions
Jack (@jackkholt): United 2-0 Cardiff
Craig (@CraigNorwood): United 3-0 Cardiff
Sam (@CenterSneak): United 2-0 Cardiff
Nick (@ManUnitedYouth): United 4-1 Cardiff
3 replies on “MATCH PREVIEW: Manchester United vs Cardiff City”
well with carrick out…. i see us magically having an unbeaten run (just like last time~)…. as soon as he returns…. i see this ending (just like last time)….
team i would love to see:
de gea
rafael jones smalling evra
valencia kagawa mata janujaz
rooney RVP or welbeck hernandez (dependent of fitness of course)
but i bet it will be
de gea
rafael smalling evans evra
valencia fletcher jones zanujaz/kagawa
mata
welbeck
which will struggle…. remember… united have always been a better team when tactic is all out attack! we are NOT a tem designed to sit back and “respect” our opponent!!! and why should we!!!!
DDG
Rafael Jones Evans Evra
Valencia Mata Fletcher Januzaj
Kagawa
Hernandez
Rafael smilling joney Evans butner fletcher claverry Valencia mata januzaj welback