Manchester United v Arsenal preview- UCL
Posted on | April 28, 2009 | No Comments
Game : Manchester United v Arsenal
Competition : UEFA Champions League semifinal first leg
Venue : Old Trafford, Manchester
Date : Wednesday, April 29, 2009.
Manchester United and Arsenal face off against each other this week in an all English semifinal UEFA Champions League semifinal. The Gunners, whose backline has been decimated by injuries to key players, will be aiming to score the crucial away goal at OT ahead of the second leg at the Emirates.
United were poor in the first half against Tottenham Hotspur, but the introduction of Carlos Tevez at half time changed the complexion of the game. Some fans will argue that it was the first penalty that Howard Webb gave away, and not Tevez’s introduction that swung the game in United’s favour. I’d probably attribute United’s victory to a mixture of both, and Wayne Rooney played excellently down the left.
Gary Neville is the only absentee for United, who otherwise have a full squad to pick from.
United form last five games all competitions most recent first- United scorers in brackets
Manchester United 5-2 Tottenham ( Ronaldo*2, Wayne Rooney*2, Dimitar Berbatov)
Manchester United 2-0 Portsmouth ( Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick)
Manchester United 0-0 Everton
FC Porto 0-1 Manchester United ( Ronaldo)
Sunderland 1-2 Manchester United ( Paul Scholes, Federico Macheda)
Gael Clichy and William Gallas are out of this fixture, which means that the Gunners lose two experienced campaigners. The likes of Gibbs and Silvestre will be given a hard time by Ronaldo and Rooney. Arsenal’s defence was shaky against Liverpool last week, and the Gunners only managed to come out with a point thanks to Liverpool being equally bad in defending. Ferdinand and Vidic have been outstanding in defence this season though, barring that horrible day against Liverpool. However there is no Andrei Arshavin, with the four goal man being cup tied. Robin Van Persie is injured, which means everything depends on Emmanuel Adebayor.
Arsenal form last five games- all competitions- most recent first- Arsenal scorers in brackets
Arsenal 2-0 M’Boro ( Cesc Fabregas*2)
Liverpool 4-4 Arsenal ( Andrei Arshavin*4)
Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea ( Theo Walcott)
Arsenal 3-0 Villareal ( Theo Walcott, Emmanuel Adebayor, RVP pen)
Wigan 1-4 Arsenal ( Arshavin, Mikael Silvestre, Alexandre Song, Theo Walcott)
Arsenal beat Manchester United in the league last year despite being complete underdogs. The CL also represents the Gunners’ best chance of winning a trophy this season.
Verdict first leg :- Manchester United 2-1 Arsenal ( Ronaldo, Berbatov/Walcott)
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