United v Portsmouth – Match Preview

By: Taylor Rockwell | April 22nd, 2009

I spent a full two hours last week discussing the Andrei Arshavin transfer with a friend of mine who happens to be a diehard fan of the Russian Premier League. His sentiment was that the 3′4 striker formerly of Zenit St. Petersburg would never find success in the EPL (unless you count making Wayne Rooney laugh as success). I was quick to agree. Ah, how time changes things.

Yesterday, the young Leningrad native (thanks Wikipedia) had a four goal outing and helped Arsenal to 4-4 draw with Liverpool at Anfield. I immediately sent a text to my buddy Brad who’s a die hard Gooner that simply said, “Congrats to Andrei.” His immediate reply? “More like, you’re welcome United.” We shall see. For now, Liverpool dropping points at home puts Manchester firmly in the driver’s seat heading into tonight’s match with Pompey.

United will, once again, have no excuses in this one, as numerous vital players sat out on Sunday’s FA Cup Semi-Final defeat to Everton (sadly, one of those sitting wasn’t Berbatov). Slave, Rooney, VDS, O’Shea, and Darren Fletcher all remained in Manchester over the weekend, and will no doubt factor into the match this afternoon. My guess is that we see a 4-3-2-1 consisting of VDS, Evra, Vidic, Rio, O’Shea, Giggs, Carrick, Fletcher, Rooney, Slave, Berba.

Pompey haven’t exactly impressed this season, but nine points out of a possible fifteen in their last five games means that they certainly aren’t a squad to be overlooked (one should note, however, that in their last five away matches, Pompey have managed only four points out of fifteen). Niko Kranjcar and Younes Kaboul will likely be out for the match, so Pompey will shift emphasis to a compact midfield and (no doubt) play for the counter.

United need to stamp their authority on this one early, and hope for a strong result…. and by “United”, I mean “Berbatov”. In case you’re still in hiding since the Liverpool defeat, Berba certainly hasn’t done a lot to alleviate the amount of criticism being hurled his way. Indeed, the big Bulgarian hasn’t scored since the Newcastle match on March 4. Since then, he’s looked his usual lazy, withdrawn self, culminating in a horrendous penalty miss and awkward TV interview on Sunday. Berba could go a long way towards silencing his critics with a strong performance in a match that mandates a United victory. If he doesn’t? Well… then you’ll be hearing from me later.