Portsmouth v Man United Preview

Manchester United need a win against Portsmouth at Fratton Park on Monday night to avoid giving themselves an early mountain to climb in The Premier League.With Chelsea and Liverpool both having taken two wins from two and United not playing in the league next weekend due to their participation in the always superbly-scheduled Uefa Super Cup match, anything less than three points on Monday could leave them up to eight points behind their bitter fores when they head to Anfield in early September. Man UTD began the season with a disappointing 1-1 draw at home to Newcastle United and could do without a fixture as awkward as the trip to Pompey so soon after with several key men still unavailable.In their five Premier League trips to Fratton Park, The Red Devils have won just once, losing three times and Harry Redknapp’s charges continued to frustrate the champions last season when they dumped out on their way to winning The FA Cup. Sir Alex Ferguson wants and needs revenge.

There will be no shortage of familiarity on Monday evening with the clubs having met twice already in the summer in a pre-season friendly in Africa and the Community Shield. United emerged victorious on both occasions, though needed penalties at Wembley despite dominating Pompey from start to finish.And being dominated has been Pompey’s trend so far, that one-sided Wembley affair being followed by a game they were never in as they were thumped 4-0 by Chelsea on the league’s opening day.They sit bottom of the league ahead of the champions’ visit and their cause is not helped by the ankle injury that rules Niko Kranjcar out of the game. The Croatian picked up the knock on international duty, but better news is the confirmed fitness of Lassana Diarra who had been a doubt with a knee injury.Sean Davis and Richard Hughes are fit again and available for selection, while Armand Traore – brought in on loan from Arsenal – could be handed his debut. Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe will again look to open their account as a club partnership, but Linvoy Primus has moved to Charlton on loan and will play no part.United are delighted to welcome back striker Carlos Tevez after a family bereavement, but Anderson is likely to be on the bench at best after flying back from the Beijing Olympics with a bronze medal in his pocket. Owen Hargreaves, meanwhile, has a very slight chance of making the squad, but is more likely to feature against Zenit St Petersburg in Friday’s showpiece game in Monaco.Nani completes a suspension, while Cristiano Ronaldo [who was sent off in this game last season] heads the remaining list of injury-absentees that also includes Michael Carrick, Ji-Sung Park and Louis Saha. John O’Shea may start in midfield and Ryan Giggs and Nemanja Vidic are also expected to play after injury scares.PIVOTAL PLAYER: Carlos Tevez. The Argentine livewire has impressed throughout pre-season and was sorely missed against Newcastle on day one when you felt his added presence may have been enough to get the win against a Newcastle side that deserved their point. Back in tandem with Wayne Rooney, Tevez will look for a re-run of the screamer he scored against Redknapp’s side in Nigeria.PREDICTION: 1-2