United v Norwich Preview

After consecutive draws, albeit in different competitions, against Stoke City and Basel, Sir Alex Ferguson will be looking to get back to winning ways when they entertain newly promoted Norwich City this Saturday.

Norwich, under the leadership of Paul Lambert, have struggled to make an impact since getting promoted but the Norfolk side will be looking to continue to pick up some more points after gathering three with a Monday night win, over Sunderland, last time out.

On paper it looks to be a United win but didn`t they say that on Tuesday evening as well? Let`s not count our chickens (or turkeys) before they hatch!

The words below are words that will be ringing around in the head of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Spoken by Danny Welbeck, they highlight the one major problem that needs addressing if this is to be a glorious season.

"We need to get our defensive mentality right."

"It`s not like Manchester United to give away three goals at home, so you could say it`s a wake-up call. There was some careless defending creeping in so we need to correct that."

Although Norwich could be troublesome, it needs to be a stepping stone towards perfection.

Having made numerous changes for the Basel match, it`ll be interesting who, if any, are fit to return to the starting eleven.

Confirmed as being available again are Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez and Jonny Evans.

We also expect Nani to start as opposed to warming the bench as he did in midweek.

The Portuguese flyer has started the season on fire and many would say that he is in the best form of his United career, long may it continue we say!

Paul Lambert will be without the trio of Zak Whitbread, Elliott Ward and Dani Ayala, all through injury.

James Vaughan is another casualty having had knee surgery and won`t play again for something like four months.

Also missing will be Ritchie De Laet, the defender is unable to play against his parent club (us).

The centre forward has played a big part in Norwich`s charge through the divisions. His style of play is, partially, similar to that of Kevin Davies and he could, given the chance, be a right handful if given the service he craves for those behind him in the Norwich side.

The two sides have clashed 60 times previously. United have won 30 of these, Norwich 15 and 15 have been drawn.

In eight Premier League encounters, United hold the upper hand with 6 victories to the 1 of Norwich with the other being drawn.

I`m confident that this is a game we will win. Norwich have done wonders to get back-to-back promotions and to gate-crash the Premier League, but to mix it with the big-boys is another thing. I fully expect United to win by three clear goals although with the way we`ve been doing a bit of kamikaze defending, don`t be too surprised if it ends up something like 5-2.

With a break in midweek, our next action sees us travel to Anfield to take on Liverpool.

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