Manchester United - CSKA.Moscow
Football: Champions League 2009/2010
Tuesday, 3rd Novermber 2009. Kickoff 20:45

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Manchester United

Manchester United entertain CSKA Moscow on Tuesday knowing that they need just one more win to seal a place in the next stage of the Champions League.

The Red Devils have pretty much done their job in the first three games as they won them well by the odd goal. Narrow 1:0 wins away at Besiktas and CSKA Moscow along with a 2:1 victory at home to Wolfsburg put them in the pole position in the group.

Alex Ferguson's men have gone about their job without too much fuss and really got the results they needed without playing too well. It was a good performance at Moscow two weeks ago when United hit the winner late on to maintain a perfect record. While the manager will surely expect another victory from his men on Tuesday against the Russians, he will definitely have the upcoming game at Chelsea at the back of his mind.

United are pretty much assured of their place in Europe while the game on Sunday is of vital importance for United as they look to keep themselves close to the leaders.

They secured a 2:0 win at home to Blackburn on Saturday to get to back winning ways in the league in another efficient display from the team. Dimitar Berbatov was the star of the show as he grabbed a fine goal and produced a very lively display. However, Berbatov picked a knee knock and is now rated a doubt for the game. He heads a long list of injured players that is likely to see Ferguson naming an almost second string for the CSKA game.

Wayne Rooney missed training on Monday due to the birth of his child and the manager will assess him on Tuesday prior to the game. Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic remain on the sidelines with back and knee injuries and will definitely miss out. The former is expected to miss for a while as he aims to cure at last a persistent back problem that troubled him since April.

Ryan Giggs is not ready to return as well as he nursing an ankle knock. Darren Fletcher returned to the bench on Saturday after a groin prpblem and will surely be given a game in midweek as he aims to regain full fitness. Ben Foster, Michael Owen and Gary Neville seem set to start as well while Gabriel Obertan is also pushing for a starting place.

Ji-Sung Park, Danny Wellbeck and Owen Hargreaves all have knee injuries and miss the game for sure while Darron Gibson has a musclular problem and will not be involved too. Still, the manager will expect a strong performance and another comfortable win by his men.

CSKA.Moscow

CSKA is travelling to Manchester with a new coach Leonid Slutsky. Juande Ramos was fired after just 2 months in charge of the Russian club. Creative players Nika Piliev, Guilherme and Mark Gonzalez are injured.

Army men are out of contention for the title in Russia and had to fire Juande Ramos after the Spaniard failed to live up to Boards' expectations. Absence of creative players up front has already effected CSKA's ability to find the net as they had just managed to score once against Terek on Friday. Tomas Necid is the only available striker and will certainly feature in the 4-2-3-1 formation.

Main hopes will be connected with midfield duo Krasic and Dzagoev. Left midfielder position is a big issue since Nigerian prodigy Oliseh limped off minutes before the match vs. Terek and Daniel Carvalho was a forced substitute. Slow Brazilian is far from a pefect candidate for the position and obviously lacks the necessary qualities. Deividas Semberas and Pavel Mamaev will occupy the defensive part of midfield, while the back line should consist of Berezutsky brothers,Ignashevich and Schennikov.

CSKA will attempt to be aggresive in every part of the pitch trying not to fall deep into their own half. Keeping possesion will be a problem for natural and obvious reasons.

Left flank of midfield is virtually dead, if Carvalho gets assigned to fill in the position. Alan Dzagoev has been rather inconsistent lately. Gifted midfielder can produce a stunning performance and ,yet, may well have a day off. Counter attacking is all CSKA can rely on in current conditions.

Betting advice

I honestly don’t see what can help CSKA avoid the loss at Old Trafford. Certainly news from MU camp suggest Sir. Alex is not taking the game too seriously, but even a seemingly weakened English side can easily overcome out of form CSKA.

The Statistics :

HANDICAP BETTING :

Take Manchester United (-1) @ 1.68 with Bet365