Manchester United travel to the Britannia Stadium to take on Stoke City, and Sir Alex Ferguson’s men should brace for an all-out war against the Potters.
United come into the match against Stoke having won their last six matches in a row in all competitions since losing to Burnley 1-0 on August 19th.
Stoke are sitting in 10th place in the English Premier League table having totaled eight points from six league matches.
They have not had the greatest of results in their last two league matches, but their manager, Tony Pulis, will be the first one to admit they threw away at least four points against Chelsea and Bolton.
Chelsea stole all the points with a winner in stoppage time, while Bolton grabbed an equalizer with less than a minute to go.
United faced a tough Stoke resistance the last time these two met at the Britannia Stadium and were lucky to escape victorious. A late Carlos Tevez goal was the only difference between the two sides.
Who
Former United youngster, Ryan Shawcross, has become on of the up & coming centerbacks in England. He joined Stoke initially on loan at the start of 2006/07 season, and the move became permanent in January transfer window.
Sir Alex reluctantly sold him and he made sure that there was a clause inserted in the deal that if he were to be sold by Stoke, United would have first option.
Shawcross is tall, powerful U-21 England international who has the ability to pop up in the opponents penalty area and snatch an odd goal here and there.
Former Middlesbrough duo Tuncay Sunli and Robert Huth joined Stoke in the summer for a combined total of £10 million, and they should provide them with experience and depth in the midfield and in the center of defense, respectively.
Treatment
Out: E. van der Sar, Rafael, G. Obertan, O. Hargreaves
Projected
B. Foster; J. O’Shea, R. Ferdinand, N. Vidic, P. Evra; J.S. Park, Anderson, D. Fletcher, R. Giggs; W. Rooney, D. Berbatov
Prediction
Manchester United 1, Stoke City 0
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