Three ways in which Manchester United can win tonight

The Premier League Owl

Isolate Gael Clichy against Antonio Valencia

Clichy, like so many of his contemporaries, is a full-back who’s far more comfortable going forward than he is in the defensive third. The threat of Antonio Valencia(f/g) is obvious: thirteen assists in just 24 games is a great return for a player who’s suffered with injuries this term, and he’s been the key performer in United’s revival.

The Ecuadorian poses a particular problem to City because of the formation Roberto Mancini deploys – Clichy doesn’t have a midfielder in front of him capable of providing defensive assistance. Valencia in isolation represents ‘bingo time’ for United, so Alex Ferguson will be hoping that’s a frequent sight.

Sacrifice a forward for an extra body in midfield

Danny Welbeck has made an important contribution to United’s season, and he scored a wonderful goal against Everton last week. That being said, Ferguson should sit him down tonight, and leave Wayne Rooney(f/g) to lead the line alone. City’s big strength, particularly against United, is the extra man they have in midfield – the away side do not want to be outnumbered in the centre tonight. A midfield trio of Michael Carrick, Paul Scholes(f/g) and Ji-Sung Park(f/g) would give the defending champions a bit more resilience in a perennially weak area, and would match them up man-for-man with Gareth Barry, Yaya Toure, and David Silva.

Drop Rafael

…because he’s not a full-back, and his frailty in the position is unnerving the rest of United’s defensive unit. In the Premier League, as in Europe, the young Brazilian has been guilty of too many lapses in concentration and frequent errors in judgement this season – he can’t be trusted in this game. Remember, United only really have to avoid defeat to be Champions in waiting, so the emphasis in the first instance should be on being defensively secure – a draw would be just fine.

While both are short on football, Phil Jones or Chris Smalling would be far better options at full-back tonight – and both have a bit more physical presence than Rafael too, which has obvious benefits at defensive set-pieces.

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