Two draws, two injuries and two finely balanced ties. In fantasy terms, Tuesday’s Champions League action could have gone a whole lot better…
United’s recent defensive frailty surfaced again with two careless goals conceded to Porto at Old Trafford. Ferguson made four changes to his lineup with Scholes, Rooney and Vidic returning to the starting lineup after their domestic bans kept them out against Villa. Neville, Tevez and Giggs all made way, while Park also came in for Nani on the left.
Ferguson’s side have now conceded in their last four outings and with Ferdinand likely to be saved for United’s second leg in Portugal next week, there will be question marks about their defensive stability, even at shot-shy Sunderland this coming weekend. Evans could yet be a doubt for that one – he appeared to suffer a knock this evening and was replaced by Neville on 72 minutes.
With the pressure on United to win at Porto, Ferguson will surely look to rest a few at Sunderland. The likes of Neville, Giggs, Tevez and Nani all look set to play a part then. Ronaldo should be safe from rotation however, given the situation in the title race right now.
Meanwhile in Spain, Arsenal put a decent second half shift against Villarreal to peg back a first half Senna goal. Fabregas was again the creator of the Gunners strike, chipping a delightful pass into Adebayor who converted spectacularly to level the tie and set up the second leg at the Emirates.
Wenger went with the same fluid 4-5-1 formation with Nasri recovering from flu to replace the ineligible Arshavin. That saw Fabregas again freed up to push up in support of Adebayor up front. Whether that will continue in the league come the weekend trip to Wigan remains to be seen. What is certain however, is that Wenger will make changes to his lineup at the weekend with the second leg of this tie in mind. Indeed, the Arsenal boss will be forced to with Almunia and Gallas both sustaining injuries in this game.
Almunia suffered an ankle injury early on and was replaced by Fabianski on 28 minutes. Gallas soon joined him on the sidelines after picking up a nasty looking knee injury which saw him replaced by Djourou just before the break.
Early reports put Almunia out of action for a fortnight, making Fabianski a new short-term fantasy option. Gallas meanwhile, reportedly has medial ligament damage and that could easily see him miss the rest of the season. That brings Djourou back onto our radars as a decent budget defensive option for Arsenal’s run-in.
Details on those injuries are currently sketchy. However, according to reports, Wenger doesn’t sound optimistic on the Gallas, who is due to have scans tomorrow…
“It looks quite serious,” remarked Wenger. “We have to assess it tomorrow but the first signs don’t look too good.”