After a brief hiatus, Manchester United resume their 2010/11 Barclays Premier League season with the short trip to Goodison Park to take on a sputtering Everton side.
So far this season, United have taken seven from a possible nine points, but Everton has got off to yet another slow start and only have a single point to show from their first three Premier League games.
United cruised to a comfortable 3-0 win over West Ham United in their last match, and even though they dominated possession, Everton slumped to a 1-0 defeat against Aston Villa.
Because of their woeful start to the campaign, Everton are in the relegation zone and in 18th place in the league, but with a manager like David Moyes, and the quality they have within their team, it seems hard to think that they will be in the same position come the end of the season.
There is an obvious reason for the Toffees' troubles this season, and that is their inability to put the score. Only Tim Cahill has found the back of the net for Everton, and that was in a 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton at home.
Flashback
This fixture, though, has not been very kind and form means absolutely nothing, because in the four previous trips away to the blue side of Liverpool, United have only take seven out of a possible 12 points against Everton, and each match was intense and played like a local northwest derby should be.
United's visit to Goodison last season ended in disappointing fashion, despite taking an early 1-0 lead through Dimitar Berbatov close-range blast. Three unanswered goals by Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Dan Gosling and Jack Rodwell capped off a solid performance and earned all three points for Everton.
The season before was very similar, because United took the lead in the first-half only to be pegged by a towering headed goal by Marouane Fellaini, and then match ended all square.
The 2007/08 season was the last time that United took all three points from this fixture, but they needed a late Nemanja Vidic powerful headed goal to leave Goodison.
Who
As mentioned before, Everton have a very formidable squad of players which can challenge the best of teams on any given day.
There have been two Everton players who were reported to be on Sir Alex Ferguson's radar this summer with both Mikael Arteta and Jack Rodwell linked with moves to Old Trafford, but the most consistent threat for the Toffees has been their vice-captain, Tim Cahill. He only stands 5'10" tall, but has a commanding presence in the box, and fortunately United have been victimized by him once since he joined from Milwall in 2004.
Everton has three former United players in their 25-man squad with Phil Neville, who is the Toffees' captain, Tim Howard and Louis Saha, but the man that made a switch in the opposite direction is the one who has been in the headlines lately.
News
Wayne Rooney will get a more than the normal rowdy reception than he usually gets when he returns to the club that he started his professional career with, because the alleged claims about his personal life that have come out in the press this week.
There are stories out in the press that the manager will be dropping Rooney for the trip, but if he is fit and ready to mentally play then there is no way that Sir Alex will drop one of his key players for this feisty match.
Sir Alex has confirmed that Michael Carrick will be out for the best part of a month after struggling with an achilles injury. The out-of-favor midfielder suffered an apparent ankle injury against the Airtricity XI at the beginning of August, but after seeing replays it did not look like an ankle injury, which can be worrisome for the United boss.
Some good news is that Rio Ferdinand will be in contention for his first bit of action this season, so it will be interesting if the Gaffer chooses him or not.
Manchester United will need to reverse their recent misfortunes against Everton and pick up all three points at Goodison Park if they want to remain on the heels of the league leaders.
Treatment
Out: O. Hargreaves (knee), M. Carrick (achilles), Anderson (knee); Probable: G. Neville (groin), R. Ferdinand (knee), G. Obertan (ankle)
Projected
E. van der Sar; J. O'Shea, R. Ferdinand, N. Vidic, P. Evra; Nani, P. Scholes, D. Fletcher, R. Giggs; W. Rooney, D. Berbatov
Prediction
Everton 1, Manchester United 3
Contributed by David Hammons / The United Religion
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