Fratton Park, Saturday 1500 GMT
PORTSMOUTH:
Avram Grant is clearly not the kind of man who likes to make life easy for himself.
Having started and ended his unhappy reign in charge of Chelsea with games against Manchester United, the Israeli once again finds himself beginning a new career with a meeting against Sir Alex Ferguson's side, this time with Portsmouth.
The Israeli will doubtless put this down to a quirk of fate, although the timing is certainly unfortunate. In 2007, with Chelsea fans still pining for the recently departed Jose Mourinho, Grant's failure to inspire Chelsea ahead of their trip to Old Trafford - they lost 2-0 - put an early black mark against his name.
Pompey fans are likely to be more forgiving if the Grant era begins with a whimper here, but the new man cannot afford to start too sluggishly.
Portsmouth produced perky performances without earning the points they deserved under Paul Hart, who was sacked on Tuesday, and Grant will hope to enjoy rather more luck than his predecessor. A few scratchy 1-0 wins would do wonders for the south coast club, who have been anchored to the foot of the Premier League all season.
To gain one against United would be a major achievement and provide the perfect start for Grant, who made sure not to upset Ferguson ahead of the game. He said:"Manchester United are a very good team with a great manager who is a very nice person."
Grant, who will be labelled as the Director of Football until his work permit is amended, said:"It's a big challenge. I think we deserve to stay in the Premier League and that's my main concern."
Strategy: When he assumed control at Chelsea, Grant was sensible enough to stick with the formula which had yielded so much success for Mourinho: a strong, compact midfield with one man screening and another pushing forward, and width provided by two overlapping full backs.
That will not work at Portsmouth, who do not possess full backs with the athleticism or pace of Ashley Cole. Instead, expect Pompey to place the emphasis on hustling United out of their stately rhythm - with the likes of Hayden Mullins and Jamie O'Hara pivotal figures in central midfield - and relying on the speed of Aruna Dindane or Frederic Piquionne to hit the visitors on the break.
It might not be pretty but desperate times require equivalent measures and Grant would consider a point a handsome return against the champions.
Injury Update: David James suffered a calf injury in the warm-up ahead of last week's defeat to Stoke, so Jamie Ashdown will continue to deputise in goal. Papa Bouba Diop (hamstring) is also ruled out.
MANCHESTER UNITED:
Nobody hates losing more than Ferguson which could spell danger for Portsmouth. The midweek defeat to Besiktas in the Champions League might have done little damage to United, but Ferguson will be desperate for normal service to be resumed at the first attempt as his side look to keep pace with Premier League leaders Chelsea.
Ferguson will certainly be smarting at the fact United sacrificed their proud home record in European competition and will have little sympathy for the plight facing Portsmouth's new manager, with his sole objective being a win because, while he will never admit it, he knows Chelsea show no signs of slipping up on the domestic front.
Ferguson said: "Portsmouth have brought in a new manager and the club will be expecting a response. The change of ownership causes disruption. New policies come in and you can see an affect on the pitch, but Portsmouth have some very good players. I've looked at the videos and they are in a false position, really.
"We know Avram well from Chelsea. He's very experienced and I'm sure he'll get the right reaction from his players. It's always a great football ground to go to and we need to deal with that, so it should be a very hard game for us.
"Avram Grant has kept in touch with the game quite a lot and he'll be pleased to get back in. He's got a task on his hands, but hopefully he can manage it."
Strategy: Few of Ferguson's fringe players will have done themselves enough justice in midweek to force the Scot into making significant changes from his preferred starting line up for domestic games. Fratton Park can prove a hostile environment and the onus will be on United to silence the home crowd.
United must slip into their smooth passing style and make sure both Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov get the service they need. If this happens quickly then Portsmouth face an uphill task in containing a United side that knows it can ill-afford any more slip-ups in the league if a fourth successive Premier League title is to be won.
Injury Update: Rio Ferdinand (back) is facing a losing battle to be fit, while he is expected to be joined on the sidelines by Jonny Evans (ankle) and John O'Shea (foot). Ferguson will also be without long-term absentee Owen Hargreaves (knee), although one person certain to find himself back in the reckoning is Berbatov, who has recovered from a knee injury.
Ferguson said:"I think Dimitar is doing very well for us. His record at international level gives an indication of just how well he has done for his country, but he has scored important goals for us also. I have no worries about him. I am happy with his form, I am happy he is with us. I couldn't be happier with him."
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Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Truth be told nani is an outstanding winger and has shown glimpses of magic, the problem is that he wants to be ronaldo rather than be his own man. his game play is selfish and he loses the ball too quickly.his recent barrage against the manager has further dented his credibility and loyalty. my opinion is that fergie should give the lad consistent playing slots to boost his morale
we should not make a mistake of selling him in jan no matter how huge debts we have frankly id rate nani better than obertan on any day.
nani should follow the instructions of the technical bench look at how valencia is doing a guy that i had written off as a flop purchase.