Manchester United v Norwich City Preview

Manchester United have been boosted by the news that Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez and Jonny Evans all trained on Friday morning and are available for selection ahead of Norwich City’s trip to Old Trafford.

The hosts have been dealing with an injury crisis of sorts lately and the return of Rooney and Hernandez will provide as welcome news for Ferguson who oversaw a lacklustre United display in midweek against FC Basel where they managed to throw away a two-goal lead and had to be grateful to Ashley Young as he headed a 90th-minute equaliser. Nemanja Vidic (ankle), Chris Smalling (groin) and Tom Cleverley (foot) are all expected to return after the international break, for United’s trip to Liverpool.

Sir Alex Ferguson, in his weekly press conference, said,

“Wayne and Hernandez are fit for tomorrow. They trained very well yesterday, which is pleasing.

“We’ll hopefully have Jonny Evans back too. At the moment we’re making too many changes in the back four so hopefully his return will help us with the defensive part.

“Vidic, Cleverley and Smalling should be ready after the internationals and available for Liverpool.”

Norwich City go to Old Trafford without James Vaughn as he faces up to four months out with a knee injury. They are also without defenders Zak Whitbread (hamstring), Elliott Ward (knee) and Dani Ayala (knee). United loanee Ritchie De Laet is unavailable for selection as he cannot play against his parent club.

Norwich City manager Paul Lambert knows he faces a gigantic task on Saturday afternoon but believes that his Canaries side have to go to United with the aim of getting all three points but accepts that the Reds are capable of beating any team in the division with ease. And despite United’s wobbly displays against Stoke and Basel, Lambert knows the return of Rooney and Hernandez will only increase the magnitude of an already daunting prospect for his players.

Lambert said,

“Some teams are beaten before they even go there, but I will have my own way to deal with that. We have to go there with a belief, because if you don’t you can get turned over.

“Hopefully you will have a game plan which will try to hurt them, but that can be blown out of the water within minutes.

“You have got to respect what you are up against, you cannot go gung-ho because they will pick you off all over the place. You have got to play with your brain a bit and hopefully that is what we will do.”

The last time the these two sides met was in 2005 at Carrow Road where Norwich usurped the Reds 2-0 with goals from Dean Ashton and Leon McKenzie that evening. United had brought on Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Ruud van Nistelrooy from the bench for that game but not even the trio could turn it around. But one thing you can always expect from a Alex Ferguson side is that after the dismal performance in midweek, they will not be complacent.

Players to Watch:

Manchester United: Nani.

The man who has become core to Manchester United’s attacking prowess, is definitely a player to watch tomorrow. He has been outstanding again at the start of the season and will be looking to add to his goal tally this season, which already stands at four.

Norwich City: Marc Tierney.

The remarkable rise of Tierney has not gone unnoticed with the Norwich City faithful and he was brilliant in the win over Sunderland. He will face a whole new challenge when he comes up against the high-flying Nani, and will have to be at his very best to stop the Portuguese wizard.

Prediction: It’s hard to see Norwich getting anything from this game. United are overwhelming favourites to win this and should do so with Rooney returning to the scoresheet.