LeeDixon

I'm not surprised that Sir Alex Ferguson has hailed Monday night's match as the biggest Manchester derby in his time as United manager. I grew up supporting City and, while local bragging rights were hotly contested around our way, I can't remember a match between the two clubs with so much at stake. So far this season, they've played three (including the Community Shield) with United winning two and City one, although I think the Blues' 6-1 rout at Old Trafford counts for a lot. Before Christmas it looked like this was City's title to lose, then they fell apart and Sir Alex's men seized the initiative. Like most pundits, I'd written City off. How wrong I was. Last Sunday's extraordinary 4-4 between United and Everton handed the initiative back to their rivals. The upshot is a mouthwatering...

Blackburn have been on a great run of late and they've gone from virtual certainties for relegation to one of five or six teams who are in the mix to go down. I'm not sure anyone at Liverpool will be receiving a Christmas card from Steve Kean later on in the year, though. The Reds unexpectedly lost to both QPR and Wigan in consecutive matches, two of the teams Blackburn would least like to see pick up points at the moment. As for Manchester United, if for a period they had to battle hard to stay in the title race, over the past few weeks it's been Manchester City doing the hard work for them by dropping points against teams you really wouldn't expect them to. Much was said about United's easier run-in but this is certainly one of the tougher matches they have from now till the end of...

I've tried - honestly, I have - but I can't make a case for backing Fulham or laying Manchester United at Old Trafford. This is the business end of the season and, as we all know, the champions are very good at business. I will be shocked if this ends in anything other than three points for the home side - I've just got to find a way of profiting from that eventuality. [u]Match Odds /United Win to Nil[/u] Of course, the Betfair markets are not populated by fools and the prices on a United win reflect the likely dominance of the home side. United are just 1.26 to win a 12th home game of this Premier League season and, although shocks can happen, we aren't going to see one here. United are masters at giving an opponent time on the ball, almost lulling the opposition into their comfort...

The dressing room must have been the last place in the world any of the Manchester United players involved in Saturday's match wanted to be at both at half-time and full-time. The dressing down Sir Alex must have given his players will have been amongst the most brutal the great man has ever delivered. Wayne Rooney will have been upset at sitting out the match - apparently due to an evening out with his wife - but at least he was safe sitting in the stands! The worst defeat I was ever involved in was actually against Manchester United. We lost 6-2 at home in the Carling Cup. I was given the task of marking Lee Sharpe. He scored a hat-trick. Ugly stuff but not quite as ugly as United's away kit that day. That 3-2 defeat on Saturday will surely have been one the worst of Sir Alex's time...

It's been a poor week by Manchester United's standards. I've praised Newcastle's performance at Old Trafford in my preview of their match against Chelsea already. But whichever way you look at it, that was a match United really should have won if they're going to successfully defend their title. The shock Carling Cup defeat to Crystal Palace was a different story of course because only a couple of the players who started that would possibly feature in Sir Alex's strongest XI. It suggests that maybe there isn't as much talent in reserve at Old Trafford as there has been in yesteryear but that's for him to worry about another day. Let's just focus on this Aston Villa match for the time being. [u]Match Odds[/u] Aston Villa started the season well and were undefeated for a while but...

[u]Match Odds/Half-Time Full-Time [/u] There were serious repercussions from that 6-1 hammering Manchester United suffered at the hands of rivals City. One of them was that Sir Alex Ferguson decided to scrap his somewhat gung-ho approach that was a feature of his team in the first few weeks of the campaign. The same approach that saw them beat City 3-2 in the Community Shield, thrash Arsenal 8-2 and get the better of Chelsea (3-1). So it's back to basics for the time being as far as Sir Alex is concerned. A fairly conventional 4-4-2 with players being asked to be more disciplined in terms of positioning. And a middle four that has somewhat surprisingly included the presence of Wayne Rooney. It's an interesting role to give your most likely goalscorer but there's sound reasoning ...

[u][b]Liverpool V Man Utd, Saturday October 15, Kick Off 12.45, live on Sky Sports 2[/b][/u] This is still just about the biggest game in English football, irrespective of the fact that Liverpool haven't really been competing for the league title for a while now. The fact Manchester United have just overtaken them when it comes to titles wOn should add a little more spice to the occasion, as if any was needed. [u]Match Odds[/u] Liverpool's start to the season has been solid, if not spectacular. They were fortunate to win at Goodison Park of course. The fact Jack Rodwell's red card was rescinded proves that he shouldn't have been sent off in the first place. But Kenny Dalglish will be telling his players that if they can win at Everton, they can certainly get something out of this...

One look at the match and you say to yourself: "There will be goals." League leaders and reigning champions Manchester United have almost been flawless so far this season. They have scored goals by the hatful and are creating chance after chance. Bolton have had a tough pair of games since that opening day win at QPR, but they surprised me by scoring so many against Manchester City and Liverpool and actually showed decent form in that pair of games. [u]Match Odds[/u] I've got a lot of time for Owen Coyle. He has an old-school way about him and I like that. He is so passionate about football, he lives the game and that rubs off on the players. They must enjoy his work ethic and I think his enthusiasm fires them. Wanderers are good to watch, they play a passing game but can be...