Weekend Review - 26 Feb 2011

Wigan vs Manchester United

With no European Champions League or FA Cup game till Mar 12, we have 3 critical away games starting from tomorrow. Yes, critical in such a way that if we lose even for 1 game, the championship will be wide open again. Our lead has been cut to 1 point although we have 1 game in hand.

I understand that from previous post, we can ignore Chelsea as title contenders but after they got knocked out by Everton, they only have Champions League as a distraction. I have one conspiracy theory where Chelsea will reach the Final of Champions League but didnt do well in the Premier League. Anyone still remember Liverpool in 2005 where they won the Champions League yet end up 5th in the league? I wonder is the final at Wembley part of it as well?

Well anyway, we have to really take one game at a time. We are at a final stretch where we have to sprint to the finishing line.

Wigan may be fighting against relegation but they dont mind adding their name to register a win against Man Utd since they got promoted 6 seasons ago.

Wigan Team News: Emmerson Boyce is the only casualty.

Man Utd Team News: Rio Ferdinand, Park Ji-sung, Jonny Evans and Anderson are out.

Odds and Analysis: Man Utd is giving 1 ball. Not worth a punt if they only can score an odd goal.

Disclaimer: This review is entirely on my own views and opinion. I didn’t point a gun at you to ask you to follow. If you want to bet on this game, do so at your own risk. Pls bet within limits. Good luck.

EPL Prediction League Match Weekend 26-27 February 2011

EPL47: SAT 26/2 Newcastle vs Bolton at 10.55pm SIN/HKT

EPL48: SUN 27/2 West Ham v Liverpool at 09.25pm SIN/HKT

GAME ON!

Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
Submissions after kick-off will not be admissible. (Disqualification)

Blog Blackout
This Prediction League will be played here but if in the event this blog goes down, we will automatically carry on the league over to the personal blog of Voxeros at http://www.JayWalkOnline.com. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Midweek Outlook (22 Feb 2011)

   Olympique Marseille vs Manchester United  

So we were blasted for our scrappy 1-0 win over non-league Crawley Town and Fergie was self-critical over it. Trust me, it was just all for show-and-tell. We had to play the diplomacy card by not belittling the domestic cups in the public media lest we incur the wrath of the FA.

However, you and I know deep inside that these cups means nothing to us any more. Cup Winners' Cup used to still be a viable consolation but now that it's been scrapped and relegated to the UEFA Cup (now known as Europa League), we are not really concerned with it any more except perhaps, a nice decorative piece in the new season team photo?

Allow me to illustrate, last season (2009/2010), we were runners-up in the EPL, we won the League Cup and we opened the new season winning the Charity Shield.

Tell me, if we were to remove one of the 3 above-mentioned, which would have made a difference?

That's right, the runners-up spot out-weighs the other two combined. Who cares if we lose the League Cup and/or Charity Shield? But turn it around, it would have been disastrous if we lose the Champions League spot that comes with the 2nd-placing.

Now, turning our attention to the game ahead. We are back in the Champions League after a nice little winter break as we begin our second round of the ECL campaign.

We will be traveling to Marseille and I expect them to be playing a very defensive game today

We had the good fortune of an easy FA Cup fixture the weekend before using our B-team to host Crawley Town, thus leaving us with a full A-squad to feature today.

Carrick, Evra, Fletcher, Scholes, Rooney, Bebartov, Van der Sar, Nani, Smalling and Vidic should be on the Starting XI. Valencia while reported to have recovered from the horrific injury earlier in the season, will not be selected. The matador from Ecuador is still a few reserve game matches before fully match-fit.

The bookies are making ManUtd give Marseille a 0.25-ball handicap and a slightly more favourable decimal odds of 1.925 to beat it. The word around town however is in Marseille's favour not only winning the 0.25-ball handicap but also Marseille to win in the 1X2 category.

The punters however do not agree as their wagers are 70% in favour of ManUtd beating the asian handicap.

While we have been plagued with the away-game jinx all season, this bad luck somehow does not port over to the Champions League. Even if this game ends in a draw, it will still be good since we will have the home advantage in the return-leg.

The way I see it, a draw is in the cards but I think due to Deschamp's lack of fire power options up front, we should win this game as I don't see ourselves firing blanks today and keeping a clean sheet.

JayWalk's 2010/2011 Track Record to-date (22 Feb 2011) :  P98-W51-L47

- Voxeros

Fixture Focus - Spurs (22 Feb 2011)

Blackpool FC vs Tottenham Hotspur

Surprisingly, it took us this far into the season to meet first time with Blackpool, as a result of the severe winter storms which postponed this match back in December.

The Lilywhites would be travelling up north to Bloomfield Road where we haven't lost since 1956, and the Seasiders so far are having a bad record at home. Injuries are aplenty for us - our midfield wonders Bale and Van der Vaart, and our defensive stalwarts Woodgate and Corluka are out. Good news is, Modric seems to be fully recovered from his appendicitis surgery and will start.

Holloway's men are also no spared from the injury bug. Ormerod, Taylor-Fletcher and Crainey are out, and they are relying on their young keeper Kettings to stop us after failing to get one on emergency loan. But one thing's for sure, our past target Adam will be around to organise his team against us.

One thing about our record against newly promoted clubs, and clubs that starts with a "B" and "W" - not so good. But if we want to go up, now with Chelsea behind us, this would be an opportunity to increase that distance.

COYS!!!!!

Weekend Review - 19 Feb 2011

Manchester United vs Crawley Town

When Chelsea lost to Liverpool two weekends ago, I have my own doubts despite people telling that Chelsea is out of title race, because you never know what happens to your favourite team when they are on the road this season. When Chelsea drew with Fulham last weekend, I can safely say they are indeed out of the title race, with only Arsenal challenging the title. Man City play a game more and have no chance of catching up.

With 12 games to play for, Chelsea is 12 points behind us. There are only 2 games that caught my eyes, which to me, is do or die for Man United.
- against a resurgent Liverpool on March 6
- against Arsenal, who won against Barcelona 2-1, on Apr 30

If Arsenal were to progress to the latter stages of Champions League and FA Cup, would injuries and fatigue play a part in the Premier League challenge?

This weekend, we play against Crawley Town, a Conference club which is the 6th time since World War II, that has progressed to this stage. Kudos to them. But my main worry will be on the first eleven that Fergie will play on Sat. With one eye on mid-week Champions League against Marseille, I have suspicion that he will rest some players and field youngsters or from Reserves.

Man Utd Team News: Park Ji-sung is the only casualty.

Crawley Town Team News: Full Team to choose from.

Odds and Analysis: Man Utd is giving 2.5 handicap. 1 goal is still a win, 2 goal is still a win. Not going to take the handicap.

Disclaimer: This review is entirely on my own views and opinion. I didn’t point a gun at you to ask you to follow. If you want to bet on this game, do so at your own risk. Pls bet within limits. Good luck.

Results - Game 12 - 13 Feb 2011 EPL Prediction League 2010/2011

It is a rather even weekend for all of us as we advance with 3-points each.

Congrats to Cool402 for taking the lead with the goal bonus to go 1 point clear.

At 80 points, it is only a matter of a few weeks before one of us hit the century mark.

Good luck everybody!

Housekeeping Notes:

All of this season's tables will be kept in Flickr's photoset. Click Here.

EPL Prediction League "Perfect Score" Hall Of Fame
Perfect Score = 2 correct-score predictions in a single weekend and hence the award of the full 10 points.

1) 8plus1 (28 - 29 Aug 2010)
2) KingMeng (02 - 03 Oct 2010)
3) ihawk98 (02 - 03 Oct 2010)
4) ollopA (16 - 17 Oct 2010)

Marksmen Board (Number of Exact Predictions)
6 Games - ihawk98, Mr. White
5 Games - KingMen, Bedokian
4 Games - redherring, Everton
3 Games - 8plus1, ollopA, Voxeros
2 Games - cool402, ianrush, edwinsng, weimeng
1 Game - Arrenn, necroastr


Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
No points for submission after kick-off. (Disqualification)

Blogspot Blackout
The EPL Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to my personal blog at http://www.jaywalkonline.com/. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Prediction League Past Winners

Copa America 2004 - WeiMeng
EPL 2004/2005 - Friday13
EPL 2005/2006 - ianrush
World Cup 2006 - EdwinSng
EPL 2006/2007 - Voxeros
EPL 2007/2008 - Cool402
Euro 2008 - Voxeros
EPL 2008/2009 - Everton
EPL 2009/2010 - ihawk98
World Cup 2010 - Raynaldo

As usual:

1) If you have spotted a mistake, please let me know where and what so that I can amend them accordingly.

2) Please check your scores for accuracy as soon as possible before I update the table during the next round of scores. Once the table has been updated, the old table will be overwritten.

3) In case you are still seeing the old table even if I have announced a new update, please refresh your browser to reload the table.

Fixture Focus - Spurs (15 Feb 2011)

Associazione Calcio Milan vs Tottenham Hotspur
(UEFA Champions League, Round of 16, 1st Leg)

Today, our lads will be travelling to the San Siro again, but this time facing the red-black half of the city of Milan.

This will be an entire different Milan-based team from the one that we faced a few months ago.

For this game, I will begin with our opponents first.

Sitting pretty at the top of the Serie A on a 10-match unbeaten run, AC Milan could prove to be our toughest opponent yet. They even bought a series of good players such as van Bommel (whom Redknapp admitted that we should have signed for), Cassano, Emanuelson, etc. The good thing is, these players are all cup-tied. Still, the Rossoneri could pack a punch up front against us, especially with the likes of Robinho, Pato and Ibrahimovic as their strike-triumvirate. Notable absences for them would be the defender Zambrotta, midfielder Pirlo, captain Ambrosini and our ex-guy Boateng.

Spurs will be going in without our San Siro talisman Bale (back) and Modric (recovering from appendicitis surgery), though the latter is on the trip. With key players rested from the Sunderland game, Redknapp will likely field Lennon and Van der Vaart in the midfield, along with Sandro and Palacios (Jenas is suspended), and maybe we might see Krancjar, who had saved our past 2 games, sneaking in a place. Defence wise, we have Dawson, Gallas (provided he wear the correct boots this time), Hutton/Corluka and Assou-Ekotto. With a 4-4-1-1 combo, up front would either be Defoe/Pavlyuchenko/Crouch, but the latter is having a bit of a back problem and might sit on the bench.

For this game, I would like to invoke the "Spirit of '72", where in the inaugural UEFA Cup we knocked AC Milan out of the semi-finals and proceed on to win the cup.

COYS!!!!!

EPL Prediction League

There wont be any prediction leagues games this weekend due to FA Cup.

Weekend Outlook (12 Feb 2011)

   Manchester United vs Manchester City  

The big news last weekend wasn't about the end of our unbeaten streak. Let's face it, we didn't play too well this season as we struggled with the away-game jinx. We are top of the table by sheer luck at the expense of our rivals who played even worse.

So the lost to Wolves wasn't all that surprising as any true blue ManUtd fans would know that the streak would come to an end eventually, even if it were at the hands (or rather feet) of relegation-struggling Wolves.

Frankly, I am glad we finally got this over and done with and what better team than Wolves at the opposite end of the table. Sure we drop 3 points here but think about it. Had it be against a title-challenging rival, the game would have cost us 6 points instead.

The big news instead was the spectacular Arsenal melt-down squandering 2 points after leading 4-0 in the first half. This is something that you don't expect a team who is a challenger to the title. Not at this level but Arsenal is rather infamous for their inability to handle pressure. Sure the refereeing was sub-standard but to lose a 4-0 lead?

Allow me to bring everybody back to 2005 when Arsenal hosted ManUtd and the bust-up drama in the tunnel even before the kick-off whistle was blown. Arsenal led 1-0 and again 2-1 only to lose against a 10-men ManUtd 2-4. Arsenal is a very talented team but as long as they lack the mental toughness that is required of a champion team, they will never amount to any greatness. So close yet so far, it's a shame really as Arsenal is regarded as the only worthy and respected rival left, now that Liverpool is down in the abyss of mid-table.

Coming back to the game ahead....

"...Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini believes that the only difference between his team and Manchester United is a stronger winning mentality." - Goal.com (11 Feb 2011)

 

"...Vieira fears Manchester United backlash." - ESPN UK (10 Feb 2011)

... it is a very big hint of the game's outcome when your opponent are showing signs of mental defeat. When you raise doubts about yourself before the kick-off whistle, I can assure you that the game is over right there-and-then.

I've never thought much of Roberto Mancini as a football manager. I think he is better off as a model for GQ or something.

If big-cash-splashing ManCity's ambition is to chase the EPL title, then I am sorry to say that Mancini is certainly the wrong person for it. He has only 3 Serie A titles (one of which was a hand-me-down from Juventus after the corruption scandal) and a bunch of domestic cup trophies. Certainly not, in my humble opinion, EPL title calibre.

ManCity should shop for another manager if they want to get anywhere near the EPL trophy.

Squad news. I don't get the big hoohah about Smalling making the Starting XI today. Big deal. The young lad will survive today without much incident when he has Vidic, Rafael and Evra to cover him nicely.

Instead I should be keeping an eye on Tevez whom I am speculating may get onto the score sheet again.

"...Patrick Vieira: There's No Point Trying To Defend Against Manchester United." - Goal.com (10 Feb 2011)

I don't see either side able to keep a clean sheet today but I don't think we will see many goals today either. 3 perhaps? The only way to win this game is to score more goals than the other side. Period.

Fergie will be fielding his best XI today as we don't have a midweek fixture hereafter that we need to save some legs for. Expect ManUtd to go all out to eliminate yet another title challenger.


Bookies are making ManUtd give a 3/4-ball handicap and a decimal odds of 2.075 to beat it. Frankly, I think 3/4-ball is not a good handicap for the punter. That is reflected by the punters' response of only 63% taking up the wager on ManUtd.

I'd probably shop around for bookies offering 1/2-ball instead even if it means a lower payout of 1.85.

JayWalk's 2010/2011 Track Record to-date (12 Feb 2011) :  P93-W50-L43

- Voxeros

Fixture Focus–Spurs (EPL, 12 February 2011)

Sunderland vs Tottenham Hotspur   

A slippery away fixture awaits Spurs as we travel to the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland does not seem to be missing ex-yiddo Darren Bent as they have scored 6 goals in their last 3 matches.  But they have also been letting in goals which is the bigger worry.  Craig Gordon should be back in goal but Frazier Campbell is still out.  The arrival of Sulley Muntari could be interesting as Spurs will now have to deal with a scoring midfielder as well.

The win against Bolton was left to the last minute and we will want to do better this time round.  Unfortunately, it seems that Spurs have not won at the Stadium of Light for almost 9 years.  Nevertheless, Bale and Modric are unavailable so we will have to rely on van der Vaart playmaking skills to give us a chance.  I think this match will be a squeaker and I hope ‘arry gets his tactics right as he will undoubtedly have one eye on the Milan Champions League fixture in the middle of next week.

We got to continue to keep pace with the teams at the top to have a chance to finish in the Top 4.  COYS!!!

EPL Prediction League Match Weekend 12-13 February 2011

EPL45: SAT 12/2 Blackburn vs Newcastle at 10.55pm SIN/HKT

EPL46: SUN 13/2 Bolton v Everton at 11.55pm SIN/HKT

GAME ON!

Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
Submissions after kick-off will not be admissible. (Disqualification)

Blog Blackout
This Prediction League will be played here but if in the event this blog goes down, we will automatically carry on the league over to the personal blog of Voxeros at http://www.JayWalkOnline.com. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Results - Game 05 - 06 Feb 2011 EPL Prediction League 2010/2011

First and foremost, Happy Lunar New Year everybody!!!

Wow, what an eventful week it was. First we have Torres burning his bridge by opening declaring that he never loved the Reds, only to have Liverpool reply with a 1-0 victory over Chelsea to give the Spaniard a nice sending off.

Speaking of 1-0, ManUtd lost to lowly Wolves but even that doesn't bat an eyelid. Surely the biggest news was Newcastle stealing a point from Arsenal after the latter were up 4-0 intially. Wow.

Coming back, Mr White continues to hold the lead this week but have to share the spoils with cool402 with his strong challenge to tie and Bedokian to close in to a mere point with also 3-point haul together with me.

Huat ah!

Housekeeping Notes:

All of this season's tables will be kept in Flickr's photoset. Click Here.

EPL Prediction League "Perfect Score" Hall Of Fame
Perfect Score = 2 correct-score predictions in a single weekend and hence the award of the full 10 points.

1) 8plus1 (28 - 29 Aug 2010)
2) KingMeng (02 - 03 Oct 2010)
3) ihawk98 (02 - 03 Oct 2010)
4) ollopA (16 - 17 Oct 2010)

Marksmen Board (Number of Exact Predictions)
6 Games - ihawk98, Mr. White
5 Games - KingMen, Bedokian
4 Games - redherring, Everton
3 Games - 8plus1, ollopA, Voxeros
2 Games - cool402, ianrush, edwinsng, weimeng
1 Game - Arrenn, necroastr


Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
No points for submission after kick-off. (Disqualification)

Blogspot Blackout
The EPL Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to my personal blog at http://www.jaywalkonline.com/. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Prediction League Past Winners

Copa America 2004 - WeiMeng
EPL 2004/2005 - Friday13
EPL 2005/2006 - ianrush
World Cup 2006 - EdwinSng
EPL 2006/2007 - Voxeros
EPL 2007/2008 - Cool402
Euro 2008 - Voxeros
EPL 2008/2009 - Everton
EPL 2009/2010 - ihawk98
World Cup 2010 - Raynaldo

As usual:

1) If you have spotted a mistake, please let me know where and what so that I can amend them accordingly.

2) Please check your scores for accuracy as soon as possible before I update the table during the next round of scores. Once the table has been updated, the old table will be overwritten.

3) In case you are still seeing the old table even if I have announced a new update, please refresh your browser to reload the table.

Fixture Focus - Spurs (5 Feb 2011)

Tottenham Hotspur vs Bolton Wanderers

A very Happy Chinese New Year to you all!

Barely just 3 days after our victory at Ewood Park, we will be back home to face one of our boogie teams Bolton Wanderers, whose boogie captain Kevin Davies just can't stop scoring against us.

Good news is that Dawson is back after serving his 1-match suspension, and he could be partnering with Gallas or Bassong t the back. Bale is still out so my guess is Pienaar will be in after recovering from a head concussion. With them in mind, the midfield could be rotated back to a 4-5-1 formation with Jenas, Palacios, Lennon and Van der Vaart supporting the lone Crouch up front.

Bolton could be fielding their on-loan player from Chelsea Sturridge, and of course Kevin Davies would be in.

It is now a tight race among the current top 5 for the top 4 position, a round of musical chair game which we definitely must have a seat on.

COYS!!!!!

Weekend Review - 5 Feb 2011

Wolves vs Manchester United

On behalf of PPL, wish everyone a Happy Lunar New Year!

And what a Lunar New Year to start with when Gary Neville announced his retirement from football. He is the first of the 'Fergie Fledglings' to do that, and is a matter of time before Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, ex-Man Utd players David Beckham, Phil Neville and Nicky Butt hang their boots and call it a day.

Owen Hargreaves is not named in the 25 man UEFA Champions League squad and we believed that he could have played the last game for the club, ironically against Wolves where he lasted for 4 mins. Oh, did i mentioned that his contract is up in June which he could leave the club for free? He joined Man Utd on 1 July 07 for 17 million pounds, which to us, is a bad investment where he spend more time on the treatment table than on the field.

With 14 games left, we are still 5 points ahead of Arsenal. For our FA Cup, our next opponent is Crawley Town, a Conference division club.

Next game against Wolves is top against bottom in the league table. And with Mick McCarthy at the helm, Wolves is destined for relegation again.

Wolves Team News: Full team to choose from.

Man Utd Team News: Full team to choose from.

Odds and Analysis: Man Utd give 1.25 handicap. Take Man Utd for the win and 4th away win this season.

Disclaimer: This review is entirely on my own views and opinion. I didn’t point a gun at you to ask you to follow. If you want to bet on this game, do so at your own risk. Pls bet within limits. Good luck.

Fixture Focus - Spurs (2 Feb 2011)

Blackburn Rovers FC vs Tottenham Hotspur

What an uneventful January.

Of 5 league and FA Cup games, we had won only 1, lost 2 and drew 2, and culminated with an humiliating 0-4 loss to our London neighbours Fulham and elimination from the FA Cup. Off the pitch, the Spurs faithful are disappointed by the news that none of the targeted strikers are coming to the Lane after the end of the transfer window.

And we are sitting at 5th, with the 4th-placed just-got-their-groove-back Chelsea 6 points ahead of us. The battle to be at the top 4 would be uphill from now on.

For the midweek fixture, we would be travelling to Ewood Park against Blackburn Rovers, who were also seen off the FA Cup competition by Aston Villa last weekend, and we will be going there with a literal "defensive" problem.

Dawson (suspension), King and Kaboul (injuries) are out. Woodgate might be in as a stopgap but he has not played for more than a year. Likely starting would be Gallas and Bassong, though the former with an injury threat. As for our midfield, with Bale, Huddlestone and Modric out (the latter due to an appendicitis surgery), likely starters would be Van der Vaart - Palacios - Jenas - Lennon. With this midfield formation in place, it is going to be a 4-4-2 with the "2" most likely be a Crouch/Defoe partnership.

The only news so far from Blackburn is that Santa Cruz will not be starting due to an injury incurred at the Villa game, but the rest of their first teamers will definitely be around.

The Blackburn game, hopefully, will kickstart our resurging run and back into the top 4 again by the end of the season.

COYS!!!!

EPL Prediction League Match Weekend 5-6 Feb 2011

EPL 43: SAT 5/2 Aston Villa vs Fulham at 9.55pm SIN/HKT

EPL 44: SUN 6/2 Chelsea vs Liverpool at 11.55pm SIN/HKT

GAME ON!

Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
Submissions after kick-off will not be admissible. (Disqualification)

Blog Blackout
This Prediction League will be played here but if in the event this blog goes down, we will automatically carry on the league over to the personal blog of Voxeros at http://www.JayWalkOnline.com. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Midweek Outlook (01 Feb 2011)

   Manchester United vs Aston Villa  

Watching ManUtd having to win after trailing from behind, game after game reminds me of Fabien Barthez. It was an era where we win by simply scoring more goals than the opponent, regardless of how many we leak.

Not exactly a wise strategy but at least it's still a win and damn entertaining at that.

Oh and by the way, it is not recommended for those with weak hearts.

I saw the Blackpool game and both of their goals were identical. Both were aerial crosses where I thought only the likes of David "Calamity" James, during his stint with Liverpool, would have trouble keeping the ball out of trouble.

I was wrong. Twice.

While on the topic of goalies, Edwin van der Sar is calling it a day at the end of this season and I thank him for being a wonderful and faithful servant all these years.

So who are we giving the No.1 shirt to next? Kuszczak? Lindegaard? New summer signing?

Kuszczak looks to be the next in line. Just a few months earlier, he was hinting of leaving the club, like Ben Foster, for more first-team opportunities elsewhere. Perhaps with van der Sar's retirement announcement, he may change his mind.

My problem is that none of the backup goalies impress me, with the notable exception of Raimond van der Gouw. So do I think Kuszczak can fill the No.1 shirt? I have my reservations but I am not ready to write him off just yet.

Lindegaard? The young goalie was touted to be the "new Schmeichel" whose is a big chap at 1.90m, like his big Danish predecessor. Had he been the goalie at the Blackpool game, we would have kept a clean sheet as he is very good at countering aerial crosses. Alas, his lack of prime time experience would possibly point to the No.2 goalie spot for the time being.

Coming back to the game ahead. The back-4 of Evra, Rafa, Ferdinand and Vidic should return after being rested at the Southampton game. Edwin van der Sar will be between the sticks and the combo of Rooney-Berbatov will start up front again after making way to Owen and Hernandez at the weekend.

Carrick will not be featuring and I doubt if Park has recovered from his Asian Cup stint. So as far as midfield line up is concerned, I honestly hadn't a clue. Nani, Giggs and Fletcher but who will be the 4th guy to be the command centre?

Asian handicap points to ManUtd giving a 1-1/2 ball handicap to Aston Villa but a doubtful 2.025 decimal odds to overcome it. On the 1X2 front, ManUtd are favourites to win with only a measly 1.32 pay-out.

Ferguson and Houllier has met head-to-head on 13 occasions with both managers sharing the spoils of 5 wins apiece and 3 draws in between. However, most of that honour were with Liverpool and Houllier will have his work cut out for him tonight with his Aston Villa outfit.

ManUtd is 6-for-6 at home as far as victories are concerned while Aston Villa is unfortunately, also 6-for-6, but it's 6 consecutive away games winless.

I say, it'll will be a win for ManUtd to further consolidate their position at the top but I have my doubts of them clearing the handicap. 2-1 would be a fair result tonight. Hopefully, we do not have come back from a goal down again.

JayWalk's 2010/2011 Track Record to-date (01 Feb 2011) :  P93-W50-L43

- Voxeros