Can Man Utd improve their game before Chelsea?

Posted on September 19th, 2008 by Jay

Its not been the most illustrious start to a season for Manchester United, losing 2-1 to Liverpool and drawing 0-0 with Villarreal at Old Trafford this week. Their league rivals Chelsea, on the other hand, have three wins and a draw under their belt and are currently top of the Barclays Premier League tables, 6 points (and one game) ahead of Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson will not want to see Chelsea extend their lead any further this weekend however will his team be ready for the head to head at Stamford Bridge this Sunday?

Even this early in the season, Manchester United are troubled by suspensions and injury problems. United reserve keeper, Ben Foster, is among a number of United players unavailable through injury, having injured his ankle in a reserve match against Blackburn. In addition, United center back Nemanja Vidic is suspended, leaving Ferguson unsure how to plug the gap at the back. One possibility is to move Wes Brown from right back into a more central role and to use Gary Neville out right however Neville is only just back from practically a year off competitive football through his own ankle injury problems.

One spark of good news is the early return to fitness of Christian Ronaldo who came on against Villarreal after 60 mins and added a real psychological advantage to United in the last third of the match.

Chelsea go into Sunday’s match unbeaten in 25 Premier League matches whereas Manchester United go into the game with the dubious honour of being the Premiership team that has scored the fewest goals this season.