United, Manchester United.
Where are we playing?
Villa Park, Sunday 1.30pm
Can I go?
Looks like the game is a sell out, but ring round your mates. There's bound to be some poor sod with a season ticket who has got roped into Christmas duties by the dragon and can't go.
Easy to get to?
We recommend a few Glühweins on the Frankfurt Market and a black cab to the ground. Treat yerself. It's Christmas!
Can I watch it live on the telly?
Can I watch it live on the telly?
We are on Sky's Super Sunday. If you don't subscribe to Sky, you can get a Sky Sports Day Pass fron NOW TV for £ 9.99 to see the game, or spend the tenner on beer and watch it in the pub.
Big game?
Ludicrously big.
United have lost at home to Everton and Newcastle and there are serious doubts as to whether they can manage top four this season. For a club like United, missing out on Champions League football is a headache, as the revenue this generates services their debt. If they can't beat us, the panic merchants will go into overdrive.
Losing to Fulham drags us right into the relegation picture and gives the Cottagers hope. A cynic might suggest we'd have more chance if the game was at Old Trafford. A decent Villa Park performance is far too much to hope for so we'll have to pin our dreams on another smash and grab raid. We've done it before this season.
Do Manchester United have any famous fans?
Absolutely tons of them, though we suspect most of them are DIRTY GLORY HUNTERS. Usain Bolt might be able to run the 100 metres in less than 10 seconds while waving at his mates in the crowd, but he can't manage to support his local team. Another famous United supporter is Rachel Riley, a woman who is famous for being good at sums. Hang on though Rachel, we've seen a pic of you in a Manchester City shirt, so just how loyal are you missus?
Big game?
Ludicrously big.
United have lost at home to Everton and Newcastle and there are serious doubts as to whether they can manage top four this season. For a club like United, missing out on Champions League football is a headache, as the revenue this generates services their debt. If they can't beat us, the panic merchants will go into overdrive.
Losing to Fulham drags us right into the relegation picture and gives the Cottagers hope. A cynic might suggest we'd have more chance if the game was at Old Trafford. A decent Villa Park performance is far too much to hope for so we'll have to pin our dreams on another smash and grab raid. We've done it before this season.
Despite the incredibly long list of famous United "hangers-on", we can't see any of them being Prime Minister, FA President, heir to to the throne or Tom Hanks.
So we win.
Who's playing for us?
Not Fabian Delph. That rush of early season yellow cards he picked up have come back to bite us on the arse as his fifth of the season at the Cottage rules him out of this game.
Bacuna's Bad Day at Craven Cottage is leading to calls for the out-of-form Matthew Lowton to be given another chance, while we'll be praying for a speedy if unlikely return for Ron Vlaar, although forgotten man Chris Herd was probably the best of our defenders in West London.
Andi Weimann looks badly in need of a break and while Tonev's shoot on sight antics have lead the Villa faithful into despair, he does give us another dimension when he plays.
It's a mystery quite why El Ahmadi keeps getting picked and surely the enforcer that is Yacouba Sylla would be of more use in this game.
Who's playing for them?
So we win.
Who's playing for us?
Not Fabian Delph. That rush of early season yellow cards he picked up have come back to bite us on the arse as his fifth of the season at the Cottage rules him out of this game.
Bacuna's Bad Day at Craven Cottage is leading to calls for the out-of-form Matthew Lowton to be given another chance, while we'll be praying for a speedy if unlikely return for Ron Vlaar, although forgotten man Chris Herd was probably the best of our defenders in West London.
Andi Weimann looks badly in need of a break and while Tonev's shoot on sight antics have lead the Villa faithful into despair, he does give us another dimension when he plays.
It's a mystery quite why El Ahmadi keeps getting picked and surely the enforcer that is Yacouba Sylla would be of more use in this game.
Who's playing for them?
No RVP which has to be good news. We're hoping Anderson plays and for pure reasons of being a bit naughty, Ashley Young.
Any useless stats?
Of course, here you go:
- Villa beat United 7-0 on 27 December 1930, two goals each for George Brown, Eric Houghton and John Mandley and one from Joe Beresford.
- United got revenge for us beating them in the 1957 FA Cup Final by beating us 4-0 in the Charity Shield. The game was played at Old Trafford though, hardly what you'd call neutral ground.
- Didier Six made a spectacular debut for Villa against United in October 1984, Villa running out 3-0 winners with goals from Peter Withe, Allan Evans and Paul Rideout.
- The "you'll never win anything with kids" match took place on 19 August 1995. Villa enjoyed a 3-1 victory with Gareth Southgate, Mark Draper, Savo Milosevic and Riccardo Scimeca all making their debuts. Ian Taylor, Mark Draper and Dwight Yorke all found the net for the home team with young David Beckham getting a late consolation for the visitors. We haven't beaten United at Villa Park in the league since this game.
- You can read about our 3-0 1989 Boxing Day win against United in our All Our Yesterday section.
He said, She said...
Paul Lambert "I have good faith in the lads to go on the front foot. If we can do that, we will make it a game, that’s for sure."David Moyes "We have really good players. These are near enough all the players who were involved last year. Hopefully we can get them in top form."
Prediction
We are predicting a United win, making the four Christmas fixtures which follow MASSIVE.
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