Preview: City v United

Two weeks behind schedule the first League Cup meeting between Manchester's premier club and their less-illustrious Salford counterparts in over thirty years is finally upon us. Since the terrific quarter-final victory over Arsenal a lot's changed, not least Roberto Mancini replacing the man who masterminded that result, former Red Mark 'Les' Hughes. A good result tomorrow would see the mighty Blues on the verge of their first final in, well, too long, and suddenly the trophy deemed 'mickey mouse' by opposition supporters for years is worth a pop.

More bad news on the injury front with Roque Santa Cruz suffering yet another calf problem. He'll be out for a month. Martin Petrov also seemed to strain something on Saturday but should make it. Stevie Ireland may return, most likely to the bench. Toure, Adebayor, Onuoha, Lescott, Bridge, Johnson, etc, etc. Either SWP or Benjani will probably replace Santa Cruz.

The sour one has indicated that veteran winger Ryan Giggs will play no part, and i expect fellow oldies Neville, Scholes & van der Sar not to start. Rio Ferdinand and John O'Shea will still be missing with calf and thigh injuries, respectively, and Owen Hargreaves, well, i needn't go on. Dimitar Berbatov and Nemanja Vidic are both expected to take some part after recovering from minor leg problems.

In a way, the recent weather plus the humiliating FA Cup exit at the hands of League One 'real rivals' Leeds has taken a bit of pressure off Ferguson to field the young side he had promised to. Looking average in the league of late, they might see retaining this trophy as their best chance of silverware, and though he'd again be proving himself a hypocrite you can sort of understand how in a season where tensions between the two clubs have been increased due to events both on and off the pitch, he'd see this as an especially tough game when in previous years both he and their fans have been extremely vocal about both the opposition and competition itself.

I can only see him going with a front two of Rooney and Berbatov. The latter's been doing his best to impersonate an inanimate object for weeks, but his goal on the weekend, surprisingly his third in four games, could prove a confidence booster for a player who looks a shadow of his Spurs' self. Behind them we'll most likely see a second-string midfield of sorts featuring the tricky but ultimately useless Obertan, promising Irish academy graduate Darron Gibson, Anderson, with Valencia on the right. Whiskynose could do us a favour by including the likes of Neville, de Laet and one of those Brazilian kids who look about nine, but i've a feeling Evra and Vidic will pad out what would otherwise be a hooky-looking back four.

Despite the supreme confidence felt by most of our fans about this game i still see it as being 50/50 on the night, with United favourites to progress over two legs. I've learned over the years to never get to confident ahead of derby day, when we do they're likely to bring us down to earth with a bump, similarly positive results against them often occur when fearing the worst. The most important thing, i feel, is to prevent them from scoring. A win of any margin providing they go away with a blank would put us in a strong position for the away leg.

There are too many ifs, buts and maybes about their starting eleven to pinpoint areas of danger, but one thing that has worried me in recent weeks, though we've generally got away with it, is our disorganisation on set-pieces as the new manager tries to integrate a zonal marking system. I can't begin to be an expert on the positives and negatives of such tactics, but i'd like us to be more aggressive when defending corners especially. With that in mind i worry about Vidic in our box.

A player who has impressed me so far this season, though few seem to agree, has been Luis Antonio Valencia. I think he's adapted very quickly to his big move and given them an added edge. Any question marks over his end product in terms of crosses are as much down to United lacking a true targetman as anything. Berbatov and Rooney both play quite deep and so Valencia's situation isn't too different to that of our own Shaun Wright-Phillips. He's the other i'd like us to keep a special eye on, though again he's not certain to start, Park, Obertan, Nani, even Danny Wellbeck could get the nod on the flanks.

If Ferguson does go as below i think there are two areas we can target. Firstly, whoever plays at right-back, be it Brown, Rafael or Neville, should be no match for Bellamy and Petrov, assuming the latter starts. Their central midfield also lacks both presence and experience, and although Gibson shows glimpses of being a fine footballer when afforded time on the ball, both should be bread and butter for Barry and de Jong, though an improvement on both's non-performance at Everton is certainly needed. If we can dominate the centre of the park, not let them settle and disrupt their rhythm them we've a real chance.

I think we'll have enough to win the game, but stopping them grabbing a valuable away goal is a completely different kettle of fish. I don't think they'd be too upset leaving with a slight defeat, but no outcome would surprise. If we demonstrate either the tenacity displayed against Chelsea, or the clinical attacking during the two home games against Arsenal, then there should only be one winner, but you can never, ever write those c*nts off.

Possible teams:
City: Given, Zabaleta, Garrido, Richards, Kompany, de Jong, Wright-Phillips, Barry, Tevez, Bellamy, Petrov

Rags: Kuszcsak, Brown, Evra, Evans, Vidic, Gibson, Valencia, Anderson, Rooney, Berbatov, Obertan

Prediction: City 2 Stretford 1