In the only Premier League fixture for the weekend, Manchester United today take on Phil Brown’s Hull City with a chance to go top of the table within their grasp. After the emotional roller-coaster that was the Manchester Derby, this is likely to be a more straightforward affair. In fact, this tie provides us with an ideal opportunity to get into some fine goal-scoring form before running into two highly critical games against Manchester City and Arsenal waiting for us around the corner.

This has not been a very good month for us United fans. Allow me to be a little insensitive as I remind you of some of our failures over the past 2-3 weeks. The year began with a mind-numbing defeat to Leeds United of all teams, in the process crashing out of the FA Cup in the third round for the first time in 26 years. We then worked our way to a hard-fought draw away to Birmingham before the emotionally charged 2-1 defeat to Manchester City in the League Cup semi-final. Our debt became the talking point of all football-obsessed households during the past couple of weeks only adding to the pain that has been building over the course of this season. Depending on the results and performances over the course of the next three games, however, we can either put an end to all the misery or sink even further down the drain.

Last week we struggled to get going against Burnley who are the worst travellers in the league and had to rely on some indifferent finishing from their strikers to gain a respectable 3-0 scoreline. The ease with which the Burnley players attacked our defence and midfield was pretty alarming. Let us just hope that against Hull we will be lot more solid and reassuring. For once, we need a ruthless performance where we absolutely demolish our opponents. We need our strike-force to be at its potent best and our defence to be as rock-solid as possible. Both of these areas have been re-enforced by the return of two very important players. Rio Ferdinand will play his first game since the demoralizing 2-0 defeat to Liverpool. Considering our defensive problems off late, Rio’s will be a welcome return. Dimitar Berbatov has also recovered from a dead-leg problem and looks set to resume his ever improving partnership with Wayne Rooney. There have been calls from all quarters for the inclusion of Owen or new-boy Diouf in Berba’s place considering the fact that the Bulgarian has had enough chances and has still not set the pitch on fire. Owen’s brief little cameo at Eastlands and Diouf’s scorching hat-trick for the reserves has added more fire-power to all the clamour. However, I genuinely believe that Berbatov needs to be persisted with as long as he is fit and ready to resume his partnership with Rooney. It must be seen that players thrive on consistency and the trust of their manager. Berbatov is a player whose talent cannot be questioned. The only thing missing from his game is confidence and with regular starting berths, the confidence issue can be sorted out. Persist with the Berba-Rooney partnership and watch it blossom into one of the best in England. If by the end of the season, Berba’s contribution is still questionable then sell him and look to bring in someone new. But chopping and changing the front two for every game is neither here nor there.

The rest of the team is expected to feature the usual suspects. VDS, Evans, Evra, Valencia, Fletcher and Rooney are expected to play unless the manager decides to rest them with an eye on the City fixture. I would love to see Nani get another crack but with the complicated relationship he seems to have with the manager, you never know. The right-back and central midfield spots would almost certainly be decided by a game of musical chairs, as has been the case all season.

It should be a straightforward fixture for us and I simply can’t see it ending up as anything other than a United victory. More important than the win is the level of performance that we are going to put up. We have been extremely mediocre for some time now and all United supporters deserve a rousing win to lift spirits around Old Trafford. Come on boys, give us a hammering of Hull.

Prediction: 3-0 to United

Kickoff: 1500 GMT

Tagged as: 11Reds Preview, Hull City