United v Birmingham Preview!

Our Premier League campaign continues with a visit from Birmingham City and, on paper, presents us with a good chance of extending our long unbeaten run whilst also putting some pressure on our rivals from across the city!

Ahead of the clash, Sir Alex Ferguson has commented that games between the two sides don`t usually provide that many goals, explaining,

"The Birmingham games in the last few years haven`t produced a lot of goals. Hopefully we can change that trend. Our home form has been very good this season, and it has to be now. It`s kicking on time."

Even more so with Manchester City up for a title push as well!

Manchester United are down to two injury victims with Owen Hargreaves and Antonio Valencia not available for selection.

Also missing, as he continues with his Asian Cup duties, will be Ji-Sung Park whilst Rafael, after his two yellow cards last weekend at Spurs, is obliged to sit this game out.

Can the Portuguese player continue to light up Old Trafford as he has done on many an occasion this season?

Alex McLeish brings his squad to Old Trafford reeling form the news that one of his influential central defenders, Dann, is sidelined for the season.

Another influential player missing, through injury, will be James McFadden with the Scottish international troubled by a knee injury.

After the derby match with Villa last time out, McLeish may well bring back Jerome and Larsson for this fixture.

A combative midfield player who`ll give as good as he gets.

Like Sir Alex implied in his comments, these games are tight affairs. The last four games have seen two 0-0 draws and two 1-0 wins for united at Old Trafford.

One interesting statistic as we prepare to increase our unbeaten record, is that we`re the only current Premier League side that Birmingham City have yet to beat in the Premier League era.

The man in charge this time around is Mike Jones.

This`ll be a home win for me and I reckon we`ll get a few goals more than we usually do in this fixture. My head tells me 3-0 to United.

On Tuesday United visit Blackpool for a rearranged Premier League fixture that fell foul of the recent icy snap and next weekend visit Southampton in the 4th round of the FA Cup.

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