Adam Dennehey WAFU manager
The festive/holiday season is a time of giving and joy. It’s also a time of year that football fans look forward to. Games come thick and fast and fixtures around this time of the year can often be crucial come the end of the season.
Manchester United fans will love nothing more than for their side to get maximum points from Sir Alex Ferguson’s side over the holiday period as they can ill-afford to slip further behind Roberto Mancini’s Manchester City at the top of the table.
Neil Warnock’s QPR side will represent the first of two difficult away fixtures over the holiday period with United facing Rangers at Loftus Road on Sunday before facing Martin Jol’s Fulham at Craven Cottage on Wednesday night.
QPR’s return to the top-flight after 15 years spent in the Football League has gone well with Warnock’s side currently sitting happily in 13th in the table with 16 points having won 4 matches from their 15 games played. That’s not bad for a promoted side.
Surprisingly they only once at home this season with their solitary win coming in a hard-fought derby against Chelsea which saw Heidar Helguson bag the winner early on from the spot in a game which saw Didier Drobga and David Luiz sent off in.
Warnock is building a good side and despite losing DJ Campbell through injury, has been boosted by the form of Icelandic striker Helguson, who despite being deemed ‘past it’ at 34 has scored six goals outshining Jay Bothroyd up top.
So what can we expect from the game. What will be the key battles on the pitch?
Rio Ferdinand v Jay Bothroyd
After excelling in the Championship for the last couple of seasons, big things were expected of Bothroyd to be QPR’s star striker. Sadly the former England striker has struggled often on his own up front, only scoring twice in the league.
Realistically it was always going to be tough for the former Arsenal youngster and he hasn’t had too many chances to score goals. Rio Ferdinand should be able to deal with him despite himself being written off on numerous occasions this season.
Michael Carrick v Shaun Derry
With United having more midfield injury problems than the rest of the Premier League at the moment, it’s vital that their midfielders who are fit, step up to the plate when the team needs them most and that they derserve their place in the side.
Michael Carrick has been playing well recently and his experience will be vital over the coming weeks. He may not be ran into the ground at the weekend against Shaun Derry but he will have to respect the veteran who is a trusted Warnock favourite.
Wayne Rooney v Anton Ferdinand
After West Ham got relegated to the Championship in 2003, there were whispers about Anton Ferdinand being the next great young player to come through the ranks at Upton Park and achieve national honours with England.
Sadly that hasn’t proved to be the case for Anton Ferdinand who has never quite got out of big brother Rio’s shadow. He’s struggled against Wayne Rooney in the past and again it may prove a task too big for the defender to deal with.
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In terms of a prediction for the game today, as I stated earlier on in a predictions article, at the start of the month, I believe United will win the game 2-1, in what will be a very tight and unattractive game to watch and fancy Danny Welbeck to get on the scoresheet.
QPR will not let United run away with the game and having beaten Chelsea and made Manchester City work hard for their win at Loftus Road, the wily fox Warnock will be setting his team up to make life difficult for his old chum Sir Alex in the hope of picking up a famous win.
By Adam Dennehey @ADennehey87
