Stoke City vs. Manchester United

Stoke City vs. Manchester United
Premier League, Britannia Stadium
September 26, 10.00 EST

United Projected Starting XI:
----------------Foster-------------------
---O'Shea----Ferdinand---Vidic----Evra---
--Valencia---Fletcher----Scholes---Nani--
-----------Rooney-------Berbatov---------

Players to Watch:
Stoke City: Rory Delap - Is there really any explanation needed on this one. The guy can throw the ball. He will look to test Vidic and Ferdinand in the air from throw-ins as much as possible.

Manchester United: Rio Ferdinand - After a terrible mistake against Manchester City it will be interesting to see how he rebounds against Stoke City. Stoke is a tough team to beat at the Britannia and Ferdinand will not have an easy game playing against the likes of Fuller and Kitson.

Prediction:
Stoke City 1:2 Manchester United
Goals: Wayne Rooney, Abdoulaye Faye, Antonio Valencia

Stoke are a very good team at the Britannia and they gave Chelsea a real scare two weeks ago. Expect another tight game with Stoke getting men forward on as many occasions as they can and pressuring that United back line which looked so out of sorts against Manchester City.

This game may be similar to the Burnley game in the fact that United will most likely dominate possession, but Stoke will try and keep the United attack infront of them. Against Burnley what United was missing was pace down the wings, so Valencia and Nani could be instrumental in picking up the three points for United.

United will need a good performance from the central midfielders as well. Fletcher will most likely continue his brilliant run of form with a start, but the other centre midfield spot could go to a number of different players. I think the game favours a Paul Scholes type player who can spread the ball around and make space against a tight back four.