NOT AGAIN?

 

 

Well the last time United faced West Brom in the Premiership was the 08/09 season when Tony Mowbray was the gaffer. Well first up we slammed them 4-0 at Old Trafford with Cristiano Ronaldo in amongst the goals on that occasion. We did even better a few months later with Carlos Tevez hitting the net for us and Ronaldo grabbing two goals late on and we blew them apart to the tune of 5-0 at the Hawthorns - not a bad result! Those were the sort of results we needed to claim what was our third Premiership title in a row. As for West Brom well...those were the sort of results that made them that season's dead men walking - it's been a while since they've survived a season in the top flight.

However this time around the Baggies made it straight back up to the top flight under the managership of 90s Chelsea midfielder Roberto di Matteo. Furthermore they've actually been doing very nicely in the top flight - settling themselves in the right half of the table, but still, despite United's messy form and obvious issues with Wayne, surely we should be able to take three points in this Premiership match at Old Trafford. As it was,we went 4-4-2. O'Shea at left back, Nani right mid, Carrick and Anderson centre mid, Giggsy left mid, Berbatov and Hernandez up front. Someone was missing, according to Fergie it was due to injury, pre-match, there was no reason not to believe the gaffer.

On the pitch though, there didn't seem to be any problem with the team we put out. In the 5th minute Nani fired in a free kick and Hernandez slotted in the rebound. Crisis, what crisis? United kept pressing, looking for a second goal. In the meantime West Brom occasionally got big ideas as well. Finally though, United broke through again, a Nani-Berbatov 1-2 setting up the Portuguese to hit the net. After that, well West Brom certainly had no answers before half time. Which was very fine by us, always nice to see a smooth display by United and in theory that was job done. However we have learned not to count chickens in this situation this season.

Well United had the first attack of the 2nd half but it came to nothing and then a 50th minute free kick from Baggies midfielder Chris Brunt found Evra who nudged it into his own net. Then in the 55th minute van de Saar 'somehow' dropped a Brunt cross and Soman Tchoyi was able to run in and grab an equaliser. Of course United tried to retake the lead. Certain unhappy assasins were brought off the bench to try their hand at hitting the net, but unfortunately failed. It isn't often that United are booed at Old Trafford, however the fact is that this was two more points blown. We have been in deeper trouble than this certainly but the question has to be when are we going to get out of it?

Elsewhere, Arsenal beat Birmingham 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium. Credit to Alex McLeish's crew for opening the scoring but the match was level at half time and the Gunners hit what turned out to be the winner early in the second half. Arsene Wenger was left red faced by his team going down to ten men though. Spurs beat Fulham 2-1 at Craven Cottage, Mark Hughes's team opening the scoring only for Spurs to equalise immediately and hit the winner in the second half. That leaves United dropping to 4th in the Premiership and leaves them on course for the Champions League playoffs. They are level on points both with Arsenal and a spot in the Champions League group stages and Spurs and a Europa League spot. However they have a -1 goal difference deficit to Arsenal and a +4 goal difference advantage over Spurs.

North of the border, Aberdeen faced Hearts at Pittodrie in the SPL. Despite a few Dons players returning from injury, it was Hearts that had the better of the first half, luckilly the Dons were able to hold them at bay till half time. The clean sheet didn't last much longer though, Kevin Kyle opening the scoring for the visitors. The Dons never really looked like getting an equaliser in what proved to be a pretty messy affair - complete with Dons assistant manager Scott Leitch being sent to the stands! Mark McGhee seemed to be relatively happy with the Dons performance though, saying that the best is yet to come! We'll have to wait and see.

Elsewhere, Dundee United lost 2-1 to Celtic at Tannadice Park. The visitors opened the scoring early on and though the game was level at hald time and most of the second half, the Tangerines still wound up giving away three points thanks to a late winner. St Mirren drew 2-2 with Hamilton at St Mirren Park. The visitors were two up early on in the second half but the home side were still able to claim a point when the final whistle blew. That leaves the Dons 9th in the SPL, four points behind Dundee United and the top half of the table and only two points ahead of St Mirren and relegation. McGhee's predicted turnaround can't come fast enough.

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