Fan Preview: Man Utd vs Blackburn Rovers

Manchester United are looking to put the embarrassing 2-0 defeat to Liverpool behind them as they face a swine flu-hit Blackburn side at Old Trafford on Saturday.

As a United fan I was utterly disappointed with the team’s performance against Liverpool last Sunday and I’m sure fellow supporters will agree. We had no passion for the game and gave Liverpool far too much respect.

And it looks like it could only get worse. Fergie is faced with a number of injuries ahead of the game against Rovers. A much missed Darren Fletcher will again not feature after he picked up an ankle injury on international duty several weeks ago. Doubts for Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic could cause problems for the defence who are suffering their 3rd worst defensive record in this stage of the season.

A struggling Blackburn side have suffered nine successive away defeats in the league this season but an impressive performance against Championship side Peterborough on Tuesday saw them progress to the quarter finals. There are five cases of Swine Flu at the club and Manager Sam Allardyce sat in the stands on Tuesday to avoid the team after said to be feeling ill. Jason Roberts is the latest player to be hit with it which will rule him out of the tie against the Champions.

United edge the previous meetings between both teams, with 48 wins over Blackburn’s 31. It’s uncertain what team we will put out this Saturday with everything that face Sir Alex. Suspension after getting sent off in the win against Barnsley in midweek has ruled out Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs is also doubtful through injury.

Paul Scholes this week has said that the best is yet to come from United. Im hoping this is true, weve been a bit lucky with some of our previous games to get a win. I don’t think weve settled down yet this season and Fergie is still trying to fill that gap that was Ronaldo, but with Chelsea looking strong, now is not the time to be messing around with the team. Three points and a Chelsea defeat will do.

Wayne Rooney should be looking to forget his otherwise average performance against Liverpool. Whether he was marked out of game or not he was certainly far too quiet for my liking. We could see a deserved start for Anderson on Saturday, I was surprised not to see his name in the starting line up at Anfield.

Blackburn have only taken 10 points from their previous nine games and let’s just hope their worst start to a season continues on Saturday.

By Elisa Langton