Manchester United First Leg Preview

By: Martin | April 28th, 2009

Well, tomorrow’s the big one, the first leg of the Champions League semifinal at Old Trafford. Games like this are why you follow football in the first place–it’s more than 24 hours before kick-off and I’m having a tough time focusing on anything else. Does it get any better than a huge match-up against a big rival? I don’t think so. Definitely not if you end up winning, anyway.

So what to expect tomorrow? Well, Manchester United’s record at Old Trafford is, as usual, very impressive. They’re 15-1-1 at home in the league this year, having scored 41 goals in those matches. That’s an average of about 2.5 goals a match at home, which means they can really light teams up at home. With our recent defensive and goalkeeping woes, we’re really going to have to make an effort to shut them down and keep them off the scoresheet. So the first order of business is going to be trying to keep their formidable attack in check.

Of course, sometimes the best defense is a good offense, and that’s going to come into play tomorrow as well. The away goals rule really makes anything we score tomorrow that much more important, and Wenger has come out and said we will be “audacious” because of it. So we certainly won’t be closing up shop in front of our own goal.

Given the options available, though, I wouldn’t be surprised if Wenger opted for a single-striker formation, which he likes to employ in Champions League away fixtures. Look for Adebayor to start alone up top, with either Fabregas or Diaby playing in behind him. No one has more faith in his youngsters than Wenger, but it’s hard to imagine even him starting Bendtner or Vela in such an important match-up (unless he wanted Vela to breathe all over United’s backline and give them swine flu so they couldn’t play in the second leg, which, come to think of it, isn’t a bad tactical plan). The only other available striker would be Eduardo, who hasn’t seen action in quite some time.

Given all the talk about playing Nasri in a holding role, playing Cesc behind the striker, etc., it’s pretty much anyone’s guess what our lineup will actually look like tomorrow. And it’s unclear which defenders will be fit–Silvestre is “50/50″ and Djourou is also questionable with a knee injury. If only one is healthy, then they will definitely start, and if both are injured, presumably Song will start at center back, opening up a slot in the midfield for someone else. But for what it’s worth, here’s my tentative lineup:

Almunia

Sagna-Djourou-Toure-Gibbs

Walcott-Song-Fabregas-Nasri

Diaby

Adebayor

There’s not much more to say. You all know how big this is, and what’s at stake. 3 months ago everyone was saying we weren’t a big club any more and calling for Wenger’s job. Now we’re one of the last 4 teams standing, standing toe-to-toe with the defending champs and our longtime rivals. Games like this are what being a fan is all about, so get out there and enjoy it.

Come on Arsenal.