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As an opening day fixture, it was just
an easy 3-0 win over Newcastle at Old Trafford but against Fulham
today, the old guard of Paul Scholes, who won player of the game last
weekend will be pulling the strings once again and has to be at his
best.

There may also be another cameo
appearance by age-less Ryan Giggs. The Welshman is in the history books
having scored in 19 consecutive Premier League seasons.

At home, Fulham are not normally easy
prospects for any team but against a vigorous United attack of Dimitar
Berbatov and Wayne Rooney, the Brade Haageland led defence may be in
for a tough day.

Fulham beat United 3-0 in last season’s
fixture, and new gaffer and former Manchester United player, Mark
Hughes, will be praying for more of that same score line. In their
opening match at the Reebok Stadium, Fulham recorded a draw and will
want to better that.

United on their part definitely have
other ideas considering the fact that they were comprehensively beaten
in December due to a raft of defensive injuries.

Close to a month after he replaced Roy
Hodgson, who took the team to the finals of the Europa Cup, Hughes is
still trying to mould Fulham to his liking and a match against the
former champions may have come too early in the season.

Striker concerns

There have been fears concerning Rooney’s form and Berbatov’s lack of goals but Alex Ferguson is not worried.

“Strikers live by
their goals. It is quite straightforward. When they are not scoring
they think they will never come. When they come they think they are
never going to finish. He is no different to any other striker,”
Ferguson said about Rooney.

Asked about
Berbatov he said, “Dimitar had the game time he needed in America
during pre-season, so his fitness is assured. There was no problem with
that and he was excellent on Monday. He could have scored three or four
goals in what was a very good performance.”

Rooney has not
scored in 13 games for both club and country although he did score
twice when United beat Fulham at Old Trafford in March.

The chance to make it three home wins against United in consecutive years will be a huge incentive for the Cottagers.

Two seasons ago,
Paul Scholes and Rooney were both sent off and Ferguson knows there
must be an improvement on this visit. “We have had a topsy-turvy time
on the last two occasions we have been to Fulham,” he admitted.

“We had nine men two years ago and last season we had gone just too
far with the injuries. It was a fragile team, with players playing out
of position and the regular defenders all missing. In that situation,
when you lose a goal it becomes very difficult, which is exactly what
happened. United have Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves injured
presently but Ferdinand is due back in five weeks.