Team news

Manchester United preview
Nemanja Vidic is back in contention as Manchester United look to reclaim the Premier League's top spot by beating crisis-club Portsmouth at Old Trafford.

Vidic has been missing since suffering pain from a nerve in his leg prior to the encounter with Wigan at the end of December but has trained this week and could be involved - if not this weekend, then the crucial trip to Aston Villa on Wednesday.

Rio Ferdinand serves the second match of a four-game ban although United have appealed against the additional match imposed for a "frivolous" appeal against the first one.

Edwin Van der Sar believes Manchester United have the awareness that separates them from the rest.

The Dutch goalkeeper is confident they can kick on and lift an unprecedented fourth successive title.

Van der Sar, 39, knows what it is like to have that winning mentality.

"Experience definitely helps," he told www.manutd.com. "You've been there before - through narrow escapes and must-win games. You know how to handle them. The more you go through these situations the better you are at dealing with them.

"There's a moment in your career where it clicks and you think `I`ve been in this situation before, I know what to do, I know what to expect'. That comes in handy sometimes."

Portsmouth preview
Nigeria striker Kanu is expected to be back in the Portsmouth squad.

Nadir Belhadj, Hassan Yebda and Aruna Dindane all played in the 1-0 defeat at Fulham after their international duty ended.

On-loan defender Ricardo Rocha could make his debut having been on the bench at Craven Cottage.

Avram Grant has challenged his Portsmouth players to believe in themselves and give everything for the cause as the Barclays Premier League's bottom club look to pull of a shock at United.

Pompey remain cast adrift following the Fulham defeat. However, a battling display deserved a better result, with Grant's team more cohesive following the return of African Nations Cup trio Nadir Belhadj, Hassan Yebda and Aruna Dindane.

The off-field saga at Fratton Park continues, as Hong Kong-based businessman Balram Chainrai took control in a fourth change of ownership before he then declared "zero interest" in completing a full-blown buy-out.

Pompey also face a winding-up order from HMRC over a #7.5million VAT bill, for which a High Court hearing is due next Wednesday. However Grant maintains his squad deserve great credit for producing consistent performances on the pitch, if not always getting their just rewards.

"We have shown over the past couple of months that when people thought we were down, we recovered and gave everything," said Grant. "I have no doubt the players will give everything again against Manchester United.

Man Utd vs Portsmouth

Last modified 22:49 06/02/10

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Not a bad weekend for United. First Rio Ferdinand grabs the England armband off John Terry – then his team grab top spot off Terry’s Chelsea.

And there’s even worse news for JT. His England team-mate Wayne Rooney remains in the form of his life.

Terry knows that if the Roonster keeps putting United’s opposition to the sword in this way, the Blues will be hard put to prevent Fergie’s men picking up their fourth consecutive title.

Since his hat-trick against Pompey in United’s 4-1 win at Fratton Park in November, Rooney can’t stop scoring.

Yesterday he scored his 15th goal in 15 games. It was his 23rd of the season – his best-ever total. And it’s still only the first week of February. Oh yes, and he also set up two other United goals.

Sir Alex Ferguson raved: “Wayne’s in great form. He has been the player capturing the imagination of the headline writers, and rightly so because he has been in devastating form, especially near goal.”

Ferguson added, however, that Rooney “would be the first to point out that to a certain extent he is only as good as those playing around him.”

This may be true, but – as yesterday’s match again demonstrated – the Red Devils only seem to get out of the blocks once their talismanic striker clicks into action.

For, odd as this may sound given the game’s 5-0 scoreline, United were fairly sluggish for the first 40 minutes.

As expected, the play was all in one direction – towards David James’s goal. Dimitar Berbatov attempted an angled shot, Jonny Evans looped a header wide and Nani sliced the ball into the crowd from 20 yards.

But, until Rooney had broken the deadlock in the 40th minute with a header from Darren Fletcher’s cross, James didn’t have a shot to save.

And the struggling visitors even had two good chances of their own to go ahead.

Full-back Anthony Vanden Borre surged forward, played a one-two with Danny Webber, and then struck a blistering shot that Edwin van der Sar did well to palm away. And Nadir Belhadj beat the goalkeeper from 15 yards – but saw his strike cleared off the line by Evans.

But Rooney’s goal opened the floodgates. As half-time approached, he played in Nani, whose shot came off Vanden Borre to make it 2-0.

Four minutes after the restart, United cut loose. Rooney flicked the ball to Michael Carrick, who smashed the ball in off the bar and Pompey’s Richard Hughes – for the third. Berbatov then sublimely flicked the ball on, only to see James block Antonio Valencia’s shot. But, as three defenders backed off in the 62nd minute, he did claim his eighth of the season.

Marc Wilson completed a miserable afternoon for Pompey when he put the ball into his own net after a dangerous ball in from Evra.

United have benefited from EIGHT own goals this campaign – more than any other club. Since losing to Fulham 3-0 in December, they have won six of their seven league games and drawn the other, heaping pressure on title-rivals Chelsea.