Defending champions Manchester United will take on West Bromwich Albion in their first game of this year’s EPL in an away game at the Hawthorns. While Manchester United had trailed Chelsea all through the first half of the season to later win the trophy, they would want to get off to a good start against a side which had not finished in the top ten last season.
The West Bromwich Albion v Manchester United match will be played on August 14 from 1600 hours local time. It will be shown live on Sky Sports HD1 in the UK.
West Brom, managed by Roy Hodgson, will look to ensure that they can get the best out of their new signings. They have been able to get a team which has not only not doled out too many players during the transfer window but also got in some exciting talent.
There is place for Zoltan Gera, who was earlier with Fulham but more importantly, there was also a signing of Reading striker Shane Long – a coup when you consider that there were many other big clubs vying for his signing. Long and Peter Odemwingie will form the core of the West Bromwich Albion attack.
Chris Brunt is the new captain who will lead out the team, but a lot will depend on how the team plays as a unit.
Manchester United go into their opening game of the season with a run-up of some good seasons in America. Of course, they have been able to sign up England winger Ashley Young and center back Phil Jones. This should allow Manchester United a fine combination of young legs and some experience to go with a new goal-keeper in David de Gea.
What the injury to Javier Hernandez will do is to allow Dimitar Berbatov to get a place in the starting eleven. The confidence will be even higher with their win over Manchester City in the Community Shield match, which came at the back of some fine performances by the younger players. Nani scored a couple of goals there and the side won 3-2 after conceding an early 0-2 lead.
Manchester United will go into the game as favourites, the bookies offering them 6/11 for a win to 6/1 if WBA can surprise them early. However, more realistically, West Brom will be happier with a drawn game.