Team News

• Wayne Rooney is Doubtful
• Carrick has ankle knock and will probably be on bench for the game
• Gary Neville and Rafael da Silva both return to the squad. Neville likely to start

Fergie has said that he’s going to be making changes from Porto game,

When I pick my team, no matter what it is, there will be critics voicing a concern about me not playing my strongest team,

Could Macheda get his first start?

Last Five Results

• FC Porto 0 – 1 Man Utd
• Sunderland 1 – 2 Man Utd
• Man Utd 2 – 2 FC Porto
• Man Utd 3 – 2 Aston Villa
• Fulham 2 – 0 Man Utd

Misc Info:

1. United will be competing in their 26th FA Cup Semi Final, which is he joint equal record with Arsenal.
2. Hold the record for most times in final (19) and most wins (11)
3. Scored 4 goals in the last two legs of the FA Cup (0-4 against Fulham and 1-4 against Derby)

My Key Man

Rio Ferdinand

Everton Info

Team News

• Saha is doubt (surprised?!) due to illness
• Jo is cup tied
• Joseph Yobo and James Vaughan both back from injury and expected to be in squad

Last Five Results

• Aston Villa 3 – 3 Everton
• Everton 4 – 0 Wigan
• Portsmouth 2 – 1 Everton
• Everton 3 – 1 Stoke
• Everton 2 – 1 Middlesbrough

Misc Info:

1. This will be the first time Everton have played at new Wembley
2. This will be their 24th FA Cup Semi Final – 2 behind United

My Key Man

Tim Cahill

Stats

Last Five Games Against Each other

• Man Utd 1 – 0 Everton (31.01.09) (League)
• Everton 1 – 1 Man Utd (25.10.08) (League)
• Man Utd 2 – 1 Everton (23.13.07) (League)
• Everton 0 – 1 Man Utd (15.09.07) (League)
• Everton 2 – 4 Man Utd (28.04.07) (League)

Misc Info:

• United have won the FA Cup 11 times to Everton’s 5
• In the last four years the team that has knocked out Middlesbrough have reached the final but lost every time. Everton beat Middlesbrough in the quarter-final. If this was to hold true this season Everton will beat United but lose in the final.
• Have played each other 10 times in FA Cup Competition United winning 5 Everton winning 5

My Prediction

Man Utd 2 – 1 Everton

Also Wes Brown is set to make a return to action, after being out since November, playing in the reserve match against Preston on Monday.

Fergie did admit that he was trying rush Brown back

Wes has started training with the first team and I am contemplating playing him in the reserves on Monday

Given the amount of important games we have coming up, it might be worth rushing him back

It would be great to have Wes available because he is such a fantastic defender and it will give us another option

Bad News

Sir Alex Ferguson has said that Carrick and Rooney are doubts

There aren’t any serious injuries, but we’ve got quite a few bumps and bruises. Rooney got a knock, and Carrick got an ankle knock, but nothing serious.

And the nominees are….

PFA Nominees

• Edwin van der Sar
• Rio Ferdinand
• Nemanja Vidic
• Ryan Giggs
• Cristiano Ronaldo
• Steven Gerrard

I can’t help thinking it’s a bit of a fix….. How did Gerrard get picked over Michael Carrick?!

Young PFA Nominees

• Rafael Da Silva
• Jonny Evans
• Stephen Ireland
• Gabriel Agbonlahor
• Ashley Young
• Aaron Lennon

Cast Your Vote

These awards are decided by the players so I thought it might be interesting if we did a poll for who we thing WILL win the awards and not who deserves it.

So who do you think the Players will vote for,

My Thoughts

I have a sickening felling that Gerrard’s going to steal the award from Vidic, because Gerrard won the award in the 05/06 season, so clearly there are a lot of players that like him.

But also, out of the 31 different winners only 5 have ever been Defenders, compared to 11 Midfielders, Defenders have a much harder time of winning awards then Midfielders.

As for the Young PFA, I think it will go to Stephen Ireland.

Rafael hasn’t played enough and while Jonny Evans has been good the same point I made about Defenders not winning as many awards as Midfielders will spoil his chances.