Fulham Vs Manchester United

We can't expect them to be tired after a one hour flight to Switzerland where they rested at least 4 of their starting XI and if Vidic and Brown are both out, I'm worried Zamora will bully us at the back.

Fulham are very tough to get at through the middle but their wing backs (espescially Pantsil) can be exposed so I expect us to play Evra with Giggs on the left and Valencia on the right to try and do so.

Fulham will probably play a three man midfield, with Dempsey playing just in front of Murphy and Etuhu (though neither have played much recently because of injury) and they are very good at keeping the ball as well as pressing when they don't have it so Fletcher will be a must for this one and we will probably play two more with him to try and control the midfield.

It's certainly not going to be an easy game but if a few of our key players are on form and we can keep Zamora isolated, we should be able to come away with all three points.
 
Latest Injury Updates


-----------------PIG------------------

De Laet-----Carrick-----Vidic-------Evra

Valencia---Fletcher----Anderson---Obertan

----------Rooney------Berbatov-----------
 
Fresh off ManUtd.com

Friday's training session will decide whether Nemanja Vidic is fit enough to face Fulham this weekend.

The Serbian defender was substituted during Tuesday's win over Wolves at Old Trafford, after straining a calf, but Sir Alex Ferguson is hopeful of a swift recovery.

"We're waiting on Nemanja Vidic," said the manager at his pre-match press conference. "Hopefully he'll be okay for tomorrow but he needs to train today."

Edwin van der Sar will not be available to play against his former club - the boss revealed his first-choice goalkeeper has flown to his native Netherlands for a consultation with the national team doctor regarding his knee injury.

Meanwhile, Owen Hargreaves could return within the next six weeks.

"Owen's doing a bit better this week, and he's coming along slowly," said Sir Alex.

"Hopefully he'll be back at the end of January."

More to follow...
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Sounds pretty positive from Fergie on Vidic...normally hes quite downbeat if a players got little chance but sounds like hes pretty hopefull Vidic will be ok.

Hargreaves still 6 weeks away?? seems like another Neville situation is brewing there...
 
Allforone said:
What the hells happened to Edwin?? no one heard of any injury then all of a sudden hes been missing for the past month now....seeing as its obviously quite a long term thing id have thought wed have been told of its severity by now?
Click to expand...

Not really clear, is it? He missed a couple of matches, then ahead of the West Ham match Phelan said he was back... Only obviously he wasn't!
 
what about rio, still no timescale on his return????
 
Kelvin said:
what about rio, still no timescale on his return????
Click to expand...

The news on longer term injuries is that Rio Ferdinand is "a lot better" and may be fit within the next two to three weeks.

Of course, I think we said exactly the same three weeks ago.
 
I'm down the "smoke" at the weekend, I am meeting some friends staying by Paddington Station - does anyone on the "caf" know of any pubs / bars that will be showing the
match live in this area ? Cheers.
 
Huiffe said:
We can't expect them to be tired after a one hour flight to Switzerland where they rested at least 4 of their starting XI and if Vidic and Brown are both out, I'm worried Zamora will bully us at the back.

Fulham are very tough to get at through the middle but their wing backs (espescially Pantsil) can be exposed so I expect us to play Evra with Giggs on the left and Valencia on the right to try and do so.

Fulham will probably play a three man midfield, with Dempsey playing just in front of Murphy and Etuhu (though neither have played much recently because of injury) and they are very good at keeping the ball as well as pressing when they don't have it so Fletcher will be a must for this one and we will probably play two more with him to try and control the midfield.

It's certainly not going to be an easy game but if a few of our key players are on form and we can keep Zamora isolated, we should be able to come away with all three points.
Click to expand...

Zamora has a back pain, probably from carrying the side ... horray!
 
need a solid 90 minute effort...come on UNITED !
 
tough one, fulham are on a high, but one we must win to keep the pressure on chelsea
 
Quite nervous about this game Fulham away is tough at the best of times nevermind without most of your first choice defence and number 1 keeper....baring in mind the injury updates id feel more confident if i saw this team sheet:


..........................Kuzszack
.De Laet.......Carrick.........Vidic........Evra
.Valencia......Fletcher......Scholes.....Giggs
..................Berbatov.....Rooney


Think though its more likely fergie will opt for an extra midfield man (Anderson) in place of Berbatov and go 4-3-3/4-5-1 which given our defensive issues would be understandable...
 
Kuszczak
De Laet Carrick Vidic Evra
Valencia Fletcher Anderson Obertan
Berbatov Rooney
--
Foster; Fábio; Gibson, Scholes, Park; Welbeck, Owen​

Why not be positive?

Technically we have the best away record in the Premier League at the moment.. Rooney's scored seven in seven away games. We still have plenty of attacking players fit, so rather than worry about the defence and pack the midfield against a team we should be beating makes little sense. Just go at them fast.

They're unbeaten in four and just got through to the last 32 of the Europa League, but we'll put an end to this little run of theirs :) watch us draw now.. We're due one.
 
feck I'll be missing this one. The only other game I've missed this season was Villa at home.:nervous:
 
IhabX7 said:
Fulham dont have a good home record at all. They only won once in 8, drew 4 and lost 3. With a goal per game scoring rate.

They are 16th in the home league. As opposed to 5th in the away league.
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They have won 4 of their last 5 home games and are unbeaten in their last 9 at home.
 
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