Another defeat for Man United and Van Gaal appears to be edging closer to the exit door as their winless run stretches to six games. All credit to Norwich for a terrific performance but United were not at the races. Full-time: Manchester United 1-2 Norwich Smalling has a great chance to head an equaliser in but the defender directs it away from goal. 90 mins – Just four additional minutes to play now. 83 mins – Just on the field, Mulumbu forces De Gea into a decent effort with his low shot. 80 mins – Double change as Alex Neil looks to hang on to the two-goal cushion. Jerome and O’Neil make way for Youssuf Mulumbu and Dieumerci Mbokani. 79 mins – United earn a free-kick on the edge of the box and Norwich goalkeeper Declan Rudd has to bat away Mata’s goalbound strike. 66 mins – GOAL! Manchester United 1-2 (Anthony Martial 66′) They’re off the mark. Young’s cross goes over the head of Rooney and falls to Martial. He controls before showing good feet to make enough room to fire home. Game on. 63 mins – While United haven’t had a shot on target today, on-loan striker Javier Hernandez has just made it 17 goals in 14 matches for Bayer Leverkusen. 61 mins – Rooney shoots over and United are making a change. It’s Fellaini off for fan favourite Ander Herrera. A big 30 minutes of football to be played here. 60 mins - It has been a dismal day so far for the Man United manager. Would he survive a second straight defeat to a newly-promoted team? 55 mins – GOAL! Manchester United 0-2 Norwich (Alex Tettey 55′) They’ve scored a second! Goalscorer Jerome turns provided with a strong run and pass to Alex Tettey and he drills the ball beyond De Gea. Wow. 50 mins – That’s wasteful from Mata. The Spaniard has the chance to put a good ball into the box but the delivery is poor. The players are back out on the pitch and the raining is pouring down. United have 45 minutes to rescue something from this and failure to do so will see the pressure mount on Van Gaal. No changes to either team. Half-time: Manchester United 0-1 Norwich Boos ring out as the whistle goes to signal the interval before the home fans send out a roar of encouragement. 38 mins – GOAL! Manchester United 0-1 Norwich (Cameron Jerome 38′) After a criminal miss last weekend, Cameron Jerome makes no mistake to blast past David de Gea after a Norwich break involving Redmond. Old Trafford is stunned. 36 mins – Mata chops down Hoolahan, and Norwich have themselves a free-kick in a good area — about 30 yards out. It’s Brady with the delivery and Martial heads clear. 32 mins – United have controlled the game in the opening 30 minutes but as of yet have only managed to create half-chances. Norwich for the best part have been looking to contain but they have just had their best spell of play in the last few minutes. 27 mins – Martial attempts to start a United attack but the Frenchman is blatantly tripped by Gary O’Neil, who goes into Mr Oliver’s book. Moments later, Rooney curls a pass into the path of Memphis Depay and Russell Marti has to make a timely challenge. 24 mins – Rooney and Mata exchange passes some 25 yards out from goal and the former’s strike is then blocked behind for a corner. Elsewhere, Chelsea are 2-0 up on Sunderland as they begin life after Mourinho. 20 mins – Hoolahan looks to create something and picks out Alex Tettey, who turns and has a pop at goal. It’s off-target, however. 13 mins – Mata bursts through but appears to be caught at the edge of the box by Olsson before Rooney drags his shot wide of the Norwich goal. Referee Michael Oliver gives a goal-kick. 10 mins – The home side have the ball in the back of the net. Mata slides through to Fellaini, who centres to Rooney for a neat finish… but the flag (correctly) goes up for offside. 7 mins – A nice passage of play down United’s left flank nearly leads to a chance but it’s snuffed out. Marouane Fellaini is getting forward at every possible opportunity. 5 mins – Nathan Redmond has taken a ball in the face after Daley Blind’s attempted clearance. He stays down for a few moments, but he’ll live. 1 min – The game is only seconds old and Martin Olsson takes the legs from under Antony Martial. KICK OFF – Here we go then, both clubs wearing their traditional home kits. United, currently fourth in the table, were beaten 2-1 by Bournemouth last time out and they are without a win since beating Watford 2-1 a month ago. The Canaries, meanwhile, sit 18th in the table and held Everton to a 1-1 draw last weekend. Give us your predictions… Here’s the team and the big news is that United captain Wayne Rooney returns to the first XI, as do Chris Smalling and Ashley Young. For the away side, Irish pair Wes Hoolohan and Robbie Brady both start.
Man United: De Gea, Young, Jones, Smalling, Blind, Carrick, Fellaini, Memphis, Mata, Martial, Rooney. Norwich: Rudd, Martin, Bennett, Bassong, Olsson, Redmond, O’Neil, Tettey, Brady, Hoolahan, Jerome. MAYBE IT’S US, but with no Saturday lunch-time fixture in the Premier League, the wait for the 3pm games to come around felt particularly long today. Anyway, we’re about 15 minutes away from kick-off in five matches while Newcastle and Aston Villa meet at 5.30pm. We’ll be focused on Old Trafford, where Manchester United are looking to claim their first win of the month against Norwich City.
Poll Results:
19 Dec 2015
5:00PM
