December 11th, 2009 by Phil Lythell

Manchester United face Martin O’Neill’s Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Saturday evening with one aim in mind – three points.

A win for the Red Devils is essential to keep up the pressure on Barclays Premier League leaders Chelsea going into the hectic Christmas schedule and if the Blues slip up at home to Everton earlier in the day then the champions could even snatch top spot.

One sticking point is the injury crisis that has beset their back five with no less than eight defensive players in the Manchester United squad either ruled out or labelled as doubtful for the clash.

On the plus side is the fact that they swept past West Ham 4-0 at Upton Park last weekend with a makeshirt back four and then secured an excellent 3-1 win away at Wolfsburg in the Champions League with a similarly fragile-looking line-up.

United will also welcome back Nemanja Vidic, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov to the matchday squad though Michael Owen will be keen to retain his place after his goal-poaching hat-trick in Germany.

To say Manchester United are Aston Villa’s bogey side might be a bit selective as Sir Alex Ferguson has a pretty good record against every Premier League side but with no wins in their last 27 league meetings, recent history is not on the visitor’s side.

However, with United’s injury list reading like a telephone directory O’Neill might just fancy his team’s chances.

Villa are the third highest scorers in the league – behind only Chelsea and Arsenal – and they know a win could propel them up to third place in the table.

That might be wishful thinking but the form of James Milner has been electric and Stewart Downing seems to be finding his feet quickly after a long injury lay-off. The key to a positive result for the midlanders will be to use the ball wisely and economically and to have be disciplined and organised when they cede possession.

With United’s never say die attitude a home win might seem the likeliest result but a share of the points woulkd be no surprise.

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