Man Utd 4-1 Middlesbrough

Manchester United equalled a 100-year-old scoring record as they stormed to the Premier League summit with a clinical 4-1 win over Middlesbrough.

Not since the days of Billy Meredith in 1907 had the Red Devils scored four in four successive games.

Manchester United: Van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand (Pique 73), Vidic, O'Shea, Ronaldo, Hargreaves (Fletcher 66), Anderson (Giggs 78), Nani, Rooney, Tevez.

Subs Not Used: Kuszczak, Simpson.

Goals: Nani 3, Rooney 33, Tevez 55, 85.

Middlesbrough: Schwarzer, Young, Woodgate, Wheater, Taylor, O'Neil, Cattermole (Boateng 90), Rochemback, Downing, Aliadiere (Hutchinson 56), Sanli (Lee 80).

Subs Not Used: Turnbull, Hines.

Booked: Cattermole, Rochemback.

Goals: Aliadiere 6.

Att: 75,720

Ref: Alan Wiley (Staffordshire).

Manchester United v Middlesbrough

In-Form United Look To Make It Eight In A Row

Date: Saturday, 27th October, 2007, kick-off 15:00 (GMT), 16:00 (CET)

Stadium: Old Trafford, Manchester.

Possible Starting XI:

Manchester United: Van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Ronaldo, Anderson, Hargreaves, Giggs, Tevez, Rooney.

Middlesbrough: Schwarzer, Young, Woodgate, Riggott, Taylor, O’Neil, Boateng, Rochemback, Cattermole, Downing, Mido.

Referee: Alan Wiley (Staffordshire).

Manchester United Training Session on October 26 2007

United ease to win

Sir Alex Ferguson's side recorded a comfortable victory in Ukraine to maintain their position at the head of Group F.

Dynamo Kiev: Shovkovskiy, Ghioane (Belkevich 45), Gavrancic, Diakhate, Gusev, Yussuf, Nesmachniy, Correa (Rotan 83),Bangoura, Rincon, Shatskikh (Milevskiy 45).

Subs Not Used: Rybka, Vashchuk, El Kaddouri, Markovic.

Booked: Diakhate.

Goals: Rincon 33, Bangoura 78.

Man Utd: Van der Sar (Kuszczak 80), Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, O'Shea, Ronaldo, Anderson, Fletcher, Giggs (Simpson 80),Rooney, Tevez (Nani 72).

Subs Not Used: Pique, Eagles.

Goals: Ferdinand 10, Rooney 18, Ronaldo 41, 68 pen.

Att: 43,000

Ref: Viktor Kassai (Hungary).

Dynamo Kiev v Manchester United Preview

Dynamo Kiev vs Manchester United is scheduled for today’s Champions League group F encounter, kick-off 19:45 local (BST), 20:45 (CET)

Paul Scholes has been ruled out of tonight's Champions League clash with Dynamo Kiev after he suffered a knee injury in training at the Olympic Stadium last night. John O'Shea, Darren Fletcher or Anderson should replace Scholes in the United line-up.

Nemanja Vidic is in line for a recall as United look to maintain their 100 per cent Champions League record against Kiev. The Serbia international missed Saturday's win at Aston Villa after suffering concussion against Wigan Athletic prior to the international break but has returned to the squad and is expected to replace Gerard Pique.

Cristiano Ronaldo will play after sitting out the four-goal rout at Villa Park, with fellow countryman Nani most likely to stand down.

Aston Villa 1 - Manchester United 3

Gerard Pique was given his second start after Nemanja Vidic failed to recover from an injury he picked up in the match against Wigan Athletic two weeks back. Wayne Rooney struck twice and missed a penalty as Manchester United eased to victory against nine-man Aston Villa. The 3rd came in the last minute of the half, Gerard Pique's header was cleared off the line by Young, but when Rio Ferdinand reacted first, Gardner could only lash his attempted clearance into his own net.


Aston Villa: Carson, Mellberg, Knight (Taylor 67), Laursen, Bouma, Gardner (Maloney 53), Reo-Coker, Barry, Young, Agbonlahor, Moore (Osbourne 54).Subs Not Used: Davies, Petrov.

Sent Off: Reo-Coker (60), Carson (66).

Booked: Reo-Coker, Young.

Goals: Agbonlahor 13.

Man Utd: Van der Sar, Pique, Brown, Ferdinand, Evra, Nani, Anderson, Scholes (O'Shea 77), Giggs (Ronaldo 76), Tevez (Fletcher 73), Rooney.Subs Not Used: Kuszczak, Simpson.

Booked: Scholes, Nani.

Goals: Rooney 36, 44, Ferdinand 45, Giggs 75.

Att: 42,640

Ref: Rob Styles (Hampshire).

English Premier League: Aston Villa v Manchester United

United will be without Louis Saha, Owen Hargreaves and Gary Neville at Aston Villa but Sir Alex bring back Nemanja Vidic and John O'Shea. Edwin van der Sar is fit and ready to return for Manchester United at Aston Villa on Saturday.

Aston Villa: Carson, Sorensen, Taylor, Mellberg, Gardner, Laursen, Davies, Knight, Bouma, Agbonlahor, Barry, Salifou, Reo-Coker, Young, Petrov, Osbourne, Carew, Moore.

Manchester United: Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Heaton, Brown, Simpson, Ferdinand, Vidic, Pique, Evra, Ronaldo, Scholes, O'Shea, Giggs, Fletcher, Tevez, Rooney, Nani, Anderson.

Stadium: Villa Park, Birmingham

When: Saturday, October 20, 2007, kick-off 17:15 local (BST), 18:15 CET

Under 21 European qualifier: Poland 0 - Spain 2

Spain made it three wins out of three after beating Poland 0-2 on Friday evening. Honours were shared until midway through the second half, but the turning point came when local keeper Biakowski was sent off for handling outside of the area. With all three changes already made, Real Madrid defender Glik went in goal, but he could do nothing to stop Jurado's free kick. And in the second minute of injury time 17 year old striker Bojan got on the end of a return pass from Mata to wrap things up.

Poland: Bartosz; Pawelec, Polczak, Kocot, Rzelniaczak, Wilk, Majewski, Cwielong, Janczyk, Pawlowski y Janoszka.

Spain: Roberto; Torres, Crespo, Torrejón, Piqué, Javi Martínez, Sisi; Raúl García, Bojan, Jurado (Granero, m.88) y Capel (Mata, m.70).

Goals: 0-1, m.70: Jurado; 0-2, m.92: Bojan

Stadium: Osrodek Sportu de Wloclawek

Referee: Bulent Demirlek. Gave red card to goalkeeper Bartosz (Poland). Gave yellow to Spanish players Sisi and Raúl García.

Next Match: Spain vs Poland 16 Nov 2007

Gerard Pique wants to take his chance

United youngster Gerard Pique is determined to take his chances and try to forge a way into contention for a regular first-team place.

Pique, who spent last season on loan at Real Zaragoza, was one of only a few who played well in United’s 2-0 defeat against Coventry, and he was highly impressive in the match with Wigan in which he played at right-back and then switched to centre-half when Nemanja Vidic was injured.

Now he is keen to stake his place in the side on a more permanent basis.

“I am very pleased - since coming back from my loan spell, I just want to stay here and find a place in the team,” he told MUTV’s Live From Old Trafford programme.

“At the moment I am not playing a lot, but I feel confident that I can work hard and find my place in the side.

“The team is working well at the moment, so it's difficult to command a place every week.

“But I know I will get the chances and when I do I will give my best for Manchester United.”

Today Poland U-21 v Spain U-21

Poland: Bartosz, Cwielong, Janoszka, Kocot, Majewski, Pawelec, Pawlowski, Polczak, Rzelniczak, Wilk y Janczyk

Spain: Roberto, Torres, Crespo, Torrejón, Piqué, Javi Martínez, Sisi; Raúl García, Xisco, Jurado y Capel

Ref : Bulent Demirlek (Turkey)

Stadium: Osrodek Sportu

Hour: 17.00

Boss salutes defensive starlets

Sir Alex Ferguson was delighted with United’s convincing 4-0 victory over Wigan Athletic, and had particular words of praise for youngsters Gerard Pique and Danny Simpson who were thrown into the action.

Pique started the match at right-back, but switched to the centre to partner Rio Ferdinand just before the half hour mark after both Nemanja Vidic and John O'Shea had gone off injured.

As a result, Simpson was introduced in the 29th minute and the 20-year-old defender came of age during only his second appearance for the club, adding an assist to his name following his excellent cross for Wayne Rooney for United's fourth goal.

“Danny's a very confident boy,” Sir Alex told MUTV. “He’s so quick and is a tremendous defender. He’s improving his technique all the time and he is one of the players that I would not consider going on loan this year because he’s valuable to us.

"Pique also came in today and was absolutely outstanding. He was one our best players against Coventry [in the Carling Cup] and is improving all the time."

Teams:

Man Utd: Kuszczak, Pique, Ferdinand, Vidic (Anderson 21), Evra, Ronaldo, O'Shea (Simpson 30), Scholes, Giggs, Rooney,Tevez (Nani 81).

Subs Not Used: Heaton, Eagles.

Booked: Rooney.

Goals: Tevez 54, Ronaldo 59, 76, Rooney 82.

Wigan: Kirkland, Melchiot (Hall 50), Boyce, Bramble, Kilbane, Scharner, Brown, Skoko, Koumas, Olembe (Valencia 66), Bent.

Subs Not Used: Pollitt, Landzaat, Aghahowa.

Booked: Skoko.

Att: 75,300

Ref: Mike Riley (Yorkshire).

Man Utd v Wigan preview

Manchester United may use Ryan Giggs or Anderson in central midfield with Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick both ruled out through injury.
Wes Brown is a doubt with a knee injury and keeper Edwin van der Sar is also still out so Tomasz Kuczszak continues.


Old Trafford, Saturday, 6 OctoberKick-off: 12:45 BST (13:45, RojaDirecta)

Manchester United Squad: Kuczszak, Heaton, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Simpson, Pique, Ronaldo, Scholes, O'Shea, Anderson, Nani, Giggs, Rooney, Saha, Tevez.

Wigan Squad: Kirkland, Melchiot, Granqvist, Bramble, Kilbane, Brown, Scharner, Skoko, Koumas, Sibierski, Bent, Aghahowa, Boyce, Cotterill, Hall, Olembe, Taylor, Valencia, Pollitt.

Spain's Road to Sweden

Gerard Piqué has been confirmed in Iñaki Sáez 's Spain squad for the UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifiers against Poland, on Friday 12 October 2007.

Atlético de Madrid: José Jurado y Raúl García

Athletic Club: Javier Martínez y Markel Susaeta

FC Barcelona: Bojan Krkic

Deportivo de la Coruña: Francisco Jiménez Tejada 'Xisco'

Espanyol: Marc Torrejón

Getafe: Esteban Granero y Miguel Pallardó

Gimnastic de Tarragona: Roberto Jiménez Gago

Real Madrid: Miguel Torres Gómez y Antonio Adán

Manchester United: Gerard Piqué

Real Murcia: César Arzo

Sevilla: Jose Ángel Crespo y Diego Capel

Valencia: Juan M. Mata

Real Valladolid: Sisinio González Martínez 'Sisi'.

Champions League: Manchester United 1 AS Roma 0

Man Utd: Kuszczak, O'Shea, Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra, Ronaldo,Carrick, Scholes, Nani (Giggs 79), Saha (Tevez 66),Rooney (Anderson 84).

Subs Not Used: Heaton, Pique, Simpson, Eagles.

Goals: Rooney 70.

Roma: Curci, Cicinho, Mexes, Juan, Tonetto, De Rossi,Aquilani (Pizarro 61), Giuly (Esposito 79), Perrotta,Mancini (Vucinic 74), Totti.

Subs Not Used: Bertagnoli, Antunes, Barusso, Brighi.

Booked: Mexes.

Att: 73,652

Ref: Manuel Enrique Mejuto Gonzalez (Spain).

All eyes on Old Trafford as Roma return

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson is expecting AS Roma to come looking for revenge in their Champions League tie on Tuesday.


The last time the clubs met at Old Trafford, United recorded a remarkable 7-1 win to book their place in last season's semi-finals.


"It was an exceptional performance. I think it will be difficult because Roma are playing well", Ferguson told a news conference on Monday.


United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar has been ruled out with a toe injury and Ferguson also has doubts over defenders Nemanja Vidic and Wes Brown.


John O'Shea and Gerard Pique stand by to deputise at the back while midfielder Owen Hargreaves is expected to make his European debut for United after a thigh strain.

Birmingham 0 Manchester United 1

A second half goal from Cristiano Ronaldo helped Manchester United grab full points from a very tricky away game against Birmingham City and the red devils are second behind Arsenal.


Birmingham: Taylor 6, Kelly 6, Djourou 7 (Schmitz 76), Ridgewell 7, Queudrue 5, Larsson 7, Nafti 6 (O'Connor 85), Muamba 6 (Palacios 70, 5) McSheffrey 7, Kapo 6, Jerome 6.

Subs not used: Kingson, Danns.

Man Utd: Van der Sar 7 (Kuszczak 46, 7), Brown 7, Ferdinand 6, Vidic 8, Evra 7, Ronaldo 7, Carrick 6, Scholes 6, Giggs 5 (Saha 64, 5), Rooney 6, Tevez 6 (O'Shea 90).

Subs not used: Anderson, Pique

Goal: C. Ronaldo, m.51

Referee: Steve Bennett

Attendance: 26,526