The Villans cannot allow themselves to be embarrassed at Old Trafford this Saturday, especially with the form that United’s players are in.
Our record is very poor against the champions, having beaten them only once in the last ten meetings and drawn twice, but I believe that it is time to bite the bullet and humiliate David Moyes and his United side even more.
With our absolutely calamitous performances against Stoke City last Sunday, the only thing running through my mind at this current moment is that Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini are destined to score their first United goals against us or that Danny Welbeck will score a hat-trick, having scored twice within three minutes when the sides last met in December. It would be trademark Villa. Thankfully, Robin Van Persie, who scored a hat-trick when the Villans last visited Old Trafford in April 2013, is out of action.
However, I am quietly optimistic about this game as I strongly believe that our counter-attacking capabilities can teach United another stern lesson.
We need every player to be on top of his game and if we can match the performance levels seen against Chelsea then I am confident we can get something from it.
It is no secret that the Red Devils are in a terrible vein of form and our away performances are generally better than our home ones, giving us a fighting chance.
I don’t want to see Lambert playing three centre-halves and two wing-backs because that just asks for trouble, in my opinion. I want to see the front three running Ferdinand and Evra ragged when on the attack – something they are certainly capable of doing. I want to see Delph proving why he should be considered for England. I want to see Vlaar and Baker barricade their front-line. Most of all, I want to see desire, commitment and urgency from our players – not any half-baked attempts like those we witnessed on Sunday.
If we make defensive errors like we did against Stoke on Sunday then we will lose. That’s a sure bet. Lambert has some serious motivating to do so that the players go out onto that soil in three days’ time and grab the back-page headlines.
This is our biggest opportunity since we beat United at Old Trafford under O’Neill to go there and grab three points that would practically guarantee safety. Even a point would be an excellent result yet I cannot help but think how sweet it would be if we could confirm our Premier League status with a victory at the Theatre of Dreams, adding to Moyes’ nightmares.
To quote King Kev … “I would absolutely love it ….”
Very do-able if we get our game head on and play like we did away to Liverpool. Needs Andi to play at no. 10 and Bacuna to come into right midfield with Lowton at right back.
Dilemma for them is that they played Citeh on Tuesday and have Bayern the following Tuesday so really should rest their best players … but who would that be nowadays!?