United hold the whip hand
following Wayne Rooney's goal in their 1-0 quarterfinal first-leg win at
Stamford Bridge and in most circumstances in the Champions League and for
United, that would be that.
Alex Ferguson's team have
lost one of their last 30 matches in the competition at Old Trafford and none
in the last six years. They have progressed in all 16 European ties where they
won the first leg away from home.
This season they have conceded
only two goals in nine Champions League games while in the Premier League they
have won 15 and drawn one of their home games.
Since the Champions league
began only two sides have recovered from a first-leg home defeat to win a
knockout tie — Ajax Amsterdam against Panathinaikos in 1996 and Inter Milan,
who recovered from a 1-0 defeat by Bayern Munich with a 3-2 win in Germany last
month.
Yet the particular nature of
this all-English tie means that such statistics are undermined in a game
between two teams who know each other so well.
Although Chelsea have won
only one of five away games in all-English Champions League ties, they won at
Old Trafford in the Premier League a year ago and know that they need only one
goal on Tuesday to swing the advantage their way.
Only two of the teams' last
12 competitive games have been decided by more than one goal so both sides know
the Londoners are still very much in the tie.
"Of course Chelsea can
do to us at Old Trafford what we've done there," said Ferguson. "We've
only got a one-goal lead and we have to be very careful and give a top
performance.
"It will be a tough
game. The tie is not done."
Ferguson had the luxury of
making eight changes from the first leg for Saturday's Premier League game
against Fulham and those on duty came through unscathed — and barely out of
breath — after a straightforward 2-0 win.
Antonio Valencia was on the
scoresheet as he continues his rapid rehabilitation from a broken ankle to
offer the manager plenty of attacking options after he decided to start with
Nani on the bench at Stamford Bridge.
United looked sharper all
over the pitch in that game but Chelsea could still easily have come away with
a draw.
The Londoners looked off the
pace again on Saturday as they stumbled past bottom club Wigan Athletic 1-0 — a
team they hammered 8-0 last May to clinch the title — but have enough talent in
the squad to score against anyone, anywhere.
"Obviously we know it
will be difficult to win there but we have the confidence to do it, we did it
last year," said manager Carlo Ancelotti.
"We are at a
disadvantage now but we played well (in the first leg), we should have had a
penalty, we hit the post." Ancelotti's biggest headache is how to best use
his trio of front men — Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka and Fernando Torres, who
took his goal drought to 10 matches after coming off the bench against Wigan.
The Italian started with Drogba
and Torres in the first leg in a 4-4-2 formation that seemed to squeeze the
space from his midfield and could well turn to Anelka this time and revert to
4-3-3.
Florent Malouda, the scorer
against Wigan, could also start while center back Alex and midfielder Yossi
Benayoun offer further options after returning from injury.
1-Edwin
van der Sar; 21-Rafael da Silva, 15-Nemanja Vidic, 5-Rio Ferdinand, 3-Patrice
Evra; 25-Antonio Valencia, 16-Michael Carrick, 11-Ryan Giggs, 13-Park Ji-sung;
14-Javier Hernandez, 10-Wayne Rooney.
1-Petr Cech;
2-Branislav Ivanovic, 33-Alex, 26-John Terry, 3-Ashley Cole; 7-Ramires, 8-Frank
Lampard, 5-Michael Essien, 15-Florent Malouda; 39-Nicolas Anelka, 9-Fernando
Torres.
Referee: Olegario Benquerenca
(Portugal)
