MID - WEEK EPL

Man U VS Sheffield United, Old Trafford - Manchester Tuesday

Rio Ferdinand might be sidelined for this game to groin injury sustained from the FA Cup semfinal against Watford. He joins the rest of Man U injury list: Vidic, Gary Neville, Saha, Silvestre, ji Sung Park, O'Shea. Last weekend FA cup game shows us a rather odd partnership between Heinze and Wes Brown in the cente back, whilst Darren Fletcher plays the unusual left back role last Saturday that sent off watford from the FA cup competition being beated 4-1 at Villa Park.
Nothing is confirmed yet if Ferdinand will play, although there's been statement that his injury is not as bad as it looks when he limped put during the game.

Sheffield pull a surprise win last Saturday beating West Ham 3-0. Didn't expect them to beat Westham by 3 goals and not conceding a goal. Never underestimate the fight for survival, really. There have been games for teams that sits at relegation zones that pulls out a bizzare spell of scores that we haven't seen thruout the season. Watford winning portsmouth by 4-2. Ascoli stops Lazio 8 straight wins holding them for a 2-2 draw. Racing beats Madrid 2-1 (just kidding! Racing sits 7th in La liga and they put on hell of a performance coming from a 1 goal down against lost galaxies, whatever....their nickname is nowadays?)

This is Man U home record 14 wins 1 draw 1 lost scoring 43 goals and conceding 10.

20.08 H: Fulham 5:1 (4:1) W
09.09 H: Tottenham 1:0 (1:0) W
17.09 H: Arsenal 0:1 (0:0) L
01.10 H: Newcastle 2:0 (1:0) W
22.10 H: Liverpool 2:0 (1:0) W
14.11 H: Portsmouth 3:0 (2:0) W
25.11 H: Chelsea 1:1 (1:0) D
29.11 H: Everton 3:0 (1:0) W
09.12 H: Man. City 3:1 (2:0) W
26.12 H: Wigan 3:1 (0:0) W
30.12 H: Reading 3:2 (1:1) W
13.01 H: Aston Villa 3:1 (3:0) W
31.01 H: Watford 4:0 (1:0) W
10.02 H: Charlton 2:0 (1:0) W
17.03 H: Bolton 4:1 (3:0) W
31.03 H: Blackburn 4:1 (0:1) W

Claude Davis, Sheffield's centre back will miss this game along with their striker Jon Stead who scored a goal against Westham last Saturday. Quoting Neil Warnock interviews
"It's a game nobody will give us a chance of getting anything out of. I think the bookies' odds will be just on how many goals we concede. A win would be a miracle and the result of the decade, not just the season, with the way they are playing at the moment"
I am not sure if he is just being realistic or it's a pre game psych war, for he also did say that his team will play for pride for he didn't want to be humiliated.
Sheffield away form is 3 wins 1 draw 12 losts scoring 7 and conceding 28.

22.08 A:Tottenham 0:2 (0:2)L
26.08 A:Fulham 0:1 (0:1) L
23.09 A: Arsenal 0:3 (0:0) L
14.10 A: Man. City 0:0 (0:0) D
21.10 A: Everton 0:2 (0:2) L
04.11 A: Newcastle 1:0 (0:0) W
25.11 A: West Ham 0:1 (0:1) L
28.11 A: Watford 1:0 (0:0) W
16.12 A: Wigan 1:0 (1:0) W
23.12 A: Portsmouth 1:3 (1:0) L
01.01 A: Middlesbroug 1:3 (1:1) L
20.01 A: Reading 1:3 (0:1) L
03.02 A: Blackburn 1:2 (1:1) L
24.02 A: Liverpool 0:4 (0:2) L
17.03 A: Chelsea 0:3 (0:2) L
31.03 A: Bolton 0:1 (0:0) L

If I have to choose between the mentality of a champion and the spirit of survival, I would choose the mentality of a champion, but doubt Man U will be able to keep a clean sheet with the patchy back four. Going for a high scoring game here 3-1 or 3-2

Arsenal VS Man City, Emirates Stadium - London Tuesday

Expect a tight game on this one. Arsenal welcomes Rosicky who plays last Saturday against Bolton along with Adebayor. Their play becomes more fluid with the return of these two important players as they are still missing Henry, Persie and Walcott up front.
Arsenal has a good home record of 9 wins 5 draws and 1 lost, scoring 34 and conceding 12.

Emile Mpenza might be sidelined for this game due to a hip injury he picked up during the game last Saturday against Liverpool that ended a goalless draw at City of Manchester. Man City has won against Arsenal when they meet earlier this season last August 1-0 playing at home. Can they repeat that performance at Emirates Stadium to obtain their first league double in thirty years? Man City had performed splendidly to wiggle their way out of the relegation zone in the past six weeks. They are now 12th place 9 points apart of the relegation zone.
Man City away record has improved sice mid march. Winning 3 of their last away games 2-0 against Boro, 1-0 against Newcastle, 3-1 against Fulham. They have played 16 away games: 6 wins 2 draws and 8 losts scoring 16 and conceding 22. Finding it hard to score goals on away games during the first half of the season, but have been much more constructive the last 2 months.

With Adebayor and Rosicky back in the team, Arsenal would probably play 4-5-1 formations with Adebayor up in front and Hleb, Cesc, Rosicky, Gilberto and Ljungberg in the Mid Field.
Rosicky may serve as the shadow striker with his accurate longshot from the 20 yards.
Ths formation was set last Saturday against Bolton, which they revived to win 2-1 coming from a 1 goal deficit in the first half, contribution of Anelka.

Overall, it will be a tight game but have to go for Arsenal to go back on their winning way with a 1 goal margin. 1-0.

That's it for Tuesday Games, will do more write ups for Wednesday EPL games tomorrow.

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