Villarreal v Man United Preview

Villareal???6/4Draw????11/5Man Utd???8/5 This is going to be a toughie for United. Spanish La Liga teams are very difficult to beat and Villarreal have already given Everton a lesson in finishing to qualify for this the Group stages. Also the Spaniards have Diego Forlan in their side and he has been a revelation since moving from Old Trafford and he'll be able to impart a lot of knowledge about Man Utd to the manager and the other players. This is certainly not going to be a cakewalk for the Reds.But we might be doing Fergie an injustice if we get over excited about Villarreal's chances. Fergie is an old head in Europe and he knows exactly how to counter any potential problems. The players are also well versed in how to win away on the Continent. The slight worry is that their record in Spain isn't that hot, losing more than they win and they have actually not won any of their last five Champions League matches. But Fergie is insistent that his side is a better one than last season and you sense he might have a point. It doesn't mean though that tonight's game will be any easier.United are missing Roy Keane tonight and that will be a big loss, purely because his leadership qualities will be missed. Alan Smith will probably play the holding role in midfield and Cristiano Ronaldo is back after his father's death last week. They are 8's and 9's respectively to score first tonight, but the man Villarreal have to fear is Van Nistelrooy. He's looking very sharp this season and he's 11/10 to score at anytime. The boy Rooney is 11/8 to score at anytime.Villarreal have their own whiz kid up front in Juan Roman Riquelme who hopefully will shrug off an ankle injury to play. He's 9/1 to score first and 5/2 anytime, which is good value considering that he scored 25 goals last season. Diego Forlan set La Liga alight last season and he'll be gagging to get on the scoresheet. He's 6/4 to score during the 90 minutes. United will have to be very tight at the back tonight or Villarreal will punish them. They finished third in La Liga last season so United will have to respect them. But it's a tricky one to call this one. A draw would realistically be a good result for United considering the other teams in the group and at 11/5 it would be a safe option. 1-1 is 5/1. It does promise to be a fascinating encounter though and it's headlining tonight live on SSP2 at 19.45pm