I realise many moons have passed since I last posted, but tonights fixture has convinced me to don my keyboard once more.
Firstly, credit to City for keeping the faith (despite Mancini telling the press another story) and making this title race one of the most exciting in recent years.
Fergie has said we should go for the win. I'm not sure whether this is gamesmanship as I think secretly the main objective for him tonight is keeping a clean sheet after October's debacle. City need to win - we do not. I hope we play 4-5-1 and look to smack them on the counter-attack. De Gea, Evra, Ferdinand, Evans, Valencia, Carrick, Rooney will definitely start. Assuming, we play 4-5-1 that gives us a few conundrums:
Right back: Rafael, Jones or Smalling? If Dzeko plays, Smalling could be quite useful in the air. I personally would like to see Rafael play, simply because he gets forward and has a good understanding with Valencia. Plus having him bombing down the wing will hopefully give Gael Clichy something to think about.
Left midfield: Young or Nani? I'd go with Young here as he is quite useful at drawing fouls and taking set pieces.
Central midfield: Scholes, Giggs, Cleverley, Jones? Assuming Carrick starts, I'd go with Scholes and Giggs. Jones doesn't quite seem to have the awareness of where his central mdifield partner is, which has left gaping holes in other games. Cleverley has been extremely poor since coming back from injury.
Overall, I can see tonights game being tight, tense and very nervy. Tevez will have a point to prove so I think we'll have to be careful with him, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Balotelli on the bench either. Lose tonight and the momentum is firmly with City and they will win the title (and we will only have ourselves to blame after Wigan and Everton).
I'm going for a 1-1 draw. COYR
