Saturday Morning
I've a similar feeling this morning to how I felt last Saturday i.e. we've got a real chance of getting a result this afternoon. If it's not just a load of kiddology, United will be without Rooney, Giggs and Scholes and for that we must be thankful but the rest of them are no slouches and from what I saw in Wednesday's match against Valencia, Hernandez will be the one to watch upfront. I think it's fair to keep Mignolet in goal as he's been a real gem for us so far and if Mensah's fit again, of course I'd have him in from the start. I'd expect us to start with a 4-5-1 formation and if we can get an early goal, that and the crowd making a huge racket will put us in a very strong position. United haven't won away this season and only managed 2-2 against Bolton so we've got to fancy our chances a bit. Match prediction: 1-1.

Afterwards
For the first time in decades I had to leave a game before the end due to the match being delayed by twenty minutes and my train for London leaving at 5.30. I only missed a few minutes and the 0-0 result was confirmed as I passed the burger van near St Peter's Station. I'm happy with the result and I think we deserved it as we had much the better of the first half and held our own in the second when United played with a lot more conviction, as Berbatov gave them more attacking flair and had a couple of good chances. One of the London Branch lads just told me that our first half display was the best he'd seen us for years but he wasn't at Anfield last week, when I thought we were equally good. We gave them little chance to settle and with a five-man midfield added to by Zenden we swamped them most of the time. If we'd had more bite upfront, I think we'd have won and I would've brought Gyan on earlier rather than with less than ten minutes to go. Our best chance went to Bolo when he hit the left post about five minutes before the break and he was given a loud ripple when he was replaced by Gyan near the end, though no doubt he had to share the applause with Steed, who was replaced by Reid at the same time. Once again I'd make Steed man of the match as he buzzed around like crazy, falling over sometimes but immediately bouncing up again to try to win the ball back. He gamefully tried to outleap Ferdinand but didn't have much luck there I'm afraid. Once more Bramble was cool, calm and collected and Catts displayed much of his good qualities while remaining on the right side of the officials. Mignolet did all that was asked from him and as far as I'm concerned Gordon can take his time to fully recuperate. With only Bent going for the long balls most of the time we would've done better with more back-up for him but I don't want to nit-pick as I feel too happy at the moment. With a fortnight's break during which we should be able to enjoy Bent knocking a few in for England we have time to get more crocked players back to fitness before we take on some less fancied sides than we've tackled of late. Let's hope we can maintain the level of our recent performances.

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