Champions League
2011-09-27 - Manchester United vs Basel
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football : Champions League Match Day 2
Tuesday 27 September 2011 - Kickoff 7:45pm
This game is live on TV
Manchester United
The 100% start to the Premier League campaign is gone for Manchester United, but they remain unbeaten in all competitions as they look to win their first Champions League game of the season. There are plenty of injury concerns at Old Trafford, but with a squad loaded with experience and talent, they will be expecting to dispose of their Swiss challengers.
Even though United could only draw at Stoke City on Saturday afternoon, they remain on top of the Premier League thanks to a superior goal difference over Manchester City. United also opened up their Champions League campaign with a 1-1 draw at Benfica to solidify their chances of winning this group with that likely their toughest game in the opening stage.
Manchester United have now won 20 consecutive games at Old Trafford in all competitions since drawing with Valencia 1-1 on Match Day 6 of this competition last December. Surprisingly, United have kept just 1 clean sheet in their last 6 games at home in all competitions. They are unbeaten in their last 8 home games in the Champions League since losing to Besiktas in 2009.
Jonny Evans, Chris Smalling, Javier Hernandez and Wayne Rooney have all be ruled out of this game, but the all of those bar Rooney are expected back for the League game with Norwich on Saturday. Nemanja Vidic, Rafael and Tom Cleverley are longer term absentees, so Antonio Valencia may be employed at right back as he was on Saturday.
Michael Owen, Dimitar Berbatov and Danny Welbeck will be hoping to start, while Ashley Young could make his Champions League debut.
Basel
Basel knew they were being placed into a tough group when the draw was made in August, but they may still feel they can cause a surprise against one of the big two teams. Thorsten Fink is the manager of the side and will be hoping to get a measure of revenge over United who beat his Bayern Munich team 2-1 in the Champions League Final of 1999 when Fink was still a player.
They may be the reigning Swiss Champions, but Basel have not made a great start to their domestic campaign this time around. They have picked up 16 points from the first 10 games they have played and are 8 points behind the leaders Luzern. Basel did beat Otelul Galati 2-1 at home on Match Day 1 of the Champions League to be the surprise early leaders of Group C.
Basel had a 5 game winning run stopped at the weekend when they drew 1-1 at Thun in the League. They will look back at their last campaign in the Champions League last season when they beat Roma away from home 1-3, although they were beaten at Cluj and Bayern Munich.
Benjamin Huggel is the only player missing for Basel after being sent off in the win over Otelul Galati in the first round of games.
Head to Head
Manchester United and Basel met during the 2002/03 Champions League campaign, and the game at Old Trafford ended 1-1 as United played a few of their second string players with qualification from the group assured.
United had won the game in Basel 1-3 earlier in the campaign.
Prediction
This looks like it should be a routine night in the office for the Manchester United squad, but injuries are beginning to take their toll on the side.
There is still enough in the squad to ensure they get the job done on Tuesday night and Sir Alex Ferguson has made it clear that he wants his side to win their next 3 champions League games so he can use the squad for the final games as the busy Christmas period approaches.
Basel will try and make life tough for United but you have to expect the home side will be too strong eventually and I will take them to win this game with the bonus of a clean sheet.
United have not had too many of those this season, but they have defended well in the group stages of the Champions League in the past and still have players like Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra who should provide the experience to ensure United keep their opponents out.
The Statistics :
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Pick :
Manchester United 3-0 Basel
