Manchester United vs Sunderland
Capital One Cup, Semi-Final, 2nd Leg
Wednesday 22 January, 2014
19:45 KO (BST)
Old Trafford, Manchester
“We want to win every competition. Now we have to go out and produce the goods. We have to get to that final.” – Phil Jones.
“Obviously a trophy is important for the club, for the manager and the players. You don’t want to finish the season without a trophy, especially at a club like United.” – Nemanja Vidic.
“We’re going to go out and do everything we can to get through. I want to give the supporters something to cheer about. There’s not been an awful lot and I’m fully aware of that.” – David Moyes.
Starting XI from: David de Gea, Anders Lindegaard; Rafael da Silva, Fabio da Silva, Phil Jones, Jonny Evans, Chris Smalling, Alex Buttner; Antonio Valencia, Adnan Januzaj, Ashley Young, Wilfried Zaha, Ryan Giggs, Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick, Tom Cleverley, Shinji Kagawa; Danny Welbeck, Javier Hernandez
Doubts: Wayne Rooney (groin), Rio Ferdinand (knee), Robin van Persie (thigh), Patrice Evra (knock)
Unavailable: Nani (hamstring), Marouane Fellaini (wrist), Nemanja Vidic (suspension)
COC journey so far:
Sunderland 2-1 United (semi-final 1st leg)
Stoke 0-2 United (quarter-final)
United 4-0 Norwich (4th round)
United 1-0 Liverpool (3rd round)
Top scorer: Javier Hernandez (3)
Home record vs Sunderland: P67 W38 D18 L11 F138 A74
League Cup record vs Sunderland: P5 W1 D2 L2 F7 A8
“We need a complete game – we must defend well, be strong and be good on the ball. We must go there and try to make sure we finish the job and put ourselves in the final.” – Gus Poyet.
“We’re not going there to lose, we’re going there to win. If you try to get a draw, then the first thing that comes to your mind is to lose and that will happen. It’s Man United. If you sit back, sooner or later they will score. They’ve got great players. We have to play our way to Wembley.” – Fabio Borini.
Starting XI from: Vito Mannone, Jordan Pickford, Oscar Ustari; Santiago Vergini, Wes Brown, John O’Shea, Andrea Dossena, Valentin Roberge, Modibo Diakite, Phil Bardsley, Ondrej Celustka; Jack Colback, Craig Gardner, Ki Sung-Yueng, Lee Cattermole, Charalampos Mavrias, El-Hadji Ba, Sebastian Larsson, Emanuele Giaccherini, Adam Johnson; Duncan Watmore, Fabio Borini, Jozy Altidore
Doubts: Steven Fletcher (Achilles)
Unavailable: Keiren Westwood (shoulder), Carlos Cuellar (hip)
COC journey so far:
Sunderland 2-1 United (semi-final 1st leg)
Sunderland 2-1 Chelsea (quarter-final)
Sunderland 2-1 Southampton (4th round)
Sunderland 2-0 Peterborough (3rd round)
Sunderland 4-2 MK Dons (2nd round)
Top scorer: Connor Wickham, Fabio Borini (2)
Last five meetings at Old Trafford
United 3-1 Sunderland (15-12-12)
United 1-0 Sunderland (05-11-11)
United 2-0 Sunderland (26-12-10)
United 2-2 Sunderland (03-10-09)
United 1-0 Sunderland (06-12-08)
Officials
Referee: Lee Mason.
The 42-year-old official has taken charge of 21 matches in all competitions this season. He has brandished 69 yellow cards and 3 red cards, as well as awarding 3 penalties. Was last seen by United fans during last month’s 3-0 win over Aston Villa at Villa Park.
Assistants: Jake Collin, Simon Long.
Fourth Official: Mike Dean.
Notes
Should he feature, Ashley Young will make a 75th appearance for Manchester United.
United have failed to score only once in the last 18 League Cup fixtures, scoring 40 goals in the process.
United have made the final 8 times, managing to lift the trophy on 4 occasions.
Sunderland have made one appearance in the final, finishing as runners-up to Norwich City.
United’s last appearance in the final was 2009/10 – the Reds lifted the trophy after beating Aston Villa 2-1.
United have won 8 of the last 9 League Cup semi-final ties.
Sunderland’s first leg victory was their first over United since 2000 – also a League Cup tie.
United have not lost at home to Sunderland since May 1968.
United 1/3 Draw 4/1 Sunderland 8/1
RedMancunian predictions
Jack (@jackkholt): United 3-1 Sunderland
Sam (@CenterSneak): United 3-1 Sunderland
Craig (@CraigNorwood): United 4-1 Sunderland
Jay (@RFFH): United 0-0 Sunderland
Andy (@andy_thomo): United 1-1 Sunderland
3 replies on “MATCH PREVIEW: Manchester United vs Sunderland”
PREDICTION: 4-1 Manchester United, Evra to score first.
Unlikely that Ando is available for selection, seeing as he’s currently eating gelato out of a gondola whilst sitting on a Vespa.
The best line-up to united for win:
degea,rafael,smalling,evans,buttner,valencia,carrick,fletcher,januzaj,kagawa,rooney.
Subcoming: chicharito,a.young,cleversly.