Birmingham City vs Manchester United: Tight game in prospect
Eighth placed Birmingham City face second placed Manchester United in one of only two fixtures to survive today (so far).
Birmingham City probably face Man United at a good time; United seem to be having a bit of a mid-season blip, their defence is below strength and the team is simply not creating enough chances. That said Blues are on their best run in the top flight for over a century so would be confident of beating anyone at the moment. I would not expect Birmingham to abandon their compact style to give United more space to counter-attack so this could be a very tight game as a result.
Sir Alex Ferguson is expected to change his team for the 100th consecutive time this afternoon with strong rumours that Dimitar Berbatov is going to be axed from the matchday squad altogether. The missing x-factor that was Cristiano Ronaldo is now being felt more every week, and although statistically United are not suffering very much - the team does not elicit much confidence that a late game saving goal will be delivered whenever it is needed. If United lose this match the available transfer funds (or lack of them) will be brought into sharp focus.
Birmingham City vs Manchester United; Kick Off 5:30pm 09 Jan 2010
Prediction Panel
Our panel contains both Squarefootball writers and readers, the writers are marked: (sqf).
Dave Blackburn : 1 - 1
Chris Cox : 1 - 2
Graham Enwright : 1 - 2
Sue Gardener : 1 - 1
Chris Goodwin : 1 - 2
Paul Grech (sqf) : TBC
Colin Illingworth (sqf) : 2 - 1
Hugh Larkin (sqf) : TBC
Peter Lee : 0 - 1
Don McMahon : 2 - 2
Antony Melvin (sqf) : 1 - 2
Paul O'Meara (sqf) : TBC
Dave Nash : 1 - 1
Stephen Orford (sqf) : TBC
Tony Ratton : 1 - 2
Peter Rendle : 0 - 3
Dan Taylor : 1 - 2
Andy Wakeman : 1 - 0
Isaac Williams : TBC
Mark Williams : TBC
Panel Verdict
A narrow majority are expecting a 2-1 Manchester United win.
Home: 2; Draw: 4; Away: 8; TBC: 6.
* Do we have it right, or do you know better? Please don't bother with derisory comments on the predictions after the match - unless you also pulled us up before it!
