Manchester United against Sunderland

Valencia crosses aimlessly into the box.

Great ball in from Rooney, curled in from the left, but Vidic can't get over it and heads too high.

Played short and no good.

Valencia wins another corner.

Berbatov wins a corner.

McCartney replaces Malbranque.

Valencia beats Richardson, who then hands him off. Richardson then kicks the ball away, and the referee has no option but to send him and his pigtail off. I didn't think he could look any more stupid.

Jones goes off, Fraizer Campbell on.

Sunderland give it away, but Anderson's attempted curler is high and wide.

Jones hits it long at Bent and it's easy for Vidic.

Foster only just reaches Vidic's weak header back.

Bent breaks but has very little support. Sunderland choosse to retain the ball, passing it all the way back.

Evans loses possession breaking forward and Sunderland attack.

After a little purple patch, United have found it hard to build momentum.

Berbatov is fouled by Ferdinand, who moves the ball away to prevent a quick free kick, and is booked.

I take it back - not a bad miss, still a great interception.

Great play from Henderson along the right by line, he found Malbranque and Jones completely missed his low cross. Good interception from Carrick, but a bad miss.

Sunderland-born Jordan Henderson replaces Andy Reid. I bet there aren't many others in Sunderland called Jordan.

Berbatov gets head to Nani's corner, but it's high.

Rooney, who is looking to do it all on his own, shoots from the edge of the box and Turner deflects it behind.

Berbatov feeds Rooney but his touch is poor and he can't make the return.

Valencia and Carrick replace Fletcher and Welbeck. Welbeck's teammates let him down with that first half effort.

Another good ball from Nani, Turner intercepts.

Good touch from Ferdinand to take the ball away from Berbatov.

Nani's crossing has been excellent this half. Another ball in is headed out by Turner for a corner. Rooney takes it and it's rubbish, but results in another.

Nani's ball is good and United win a corner. Good defending from Jones.

United have a free kick after a foul on Anderson, who has injected some engery.

Berbatov perseveres well down the right, and his cross is backheeled goalwards by Welbeck, but the effort's blocked.

Berbatov is making United tick, they'll be needing to get the ball into him as much as possible.

Unlucky Rooney. Ball's fed into Berbatov, who squares it into Rooney's stride, and he fades a shot not far wide of the far post.

Bardsley is booked for unnecessary mouth.

Welbeck breaks out of defence but Anderson overhits a return pass.

Reid does well to evade Evra and Vidic, who fouls him.

Welbeck miscontrolls a pass from Anderson which prevents him from playing Rooney in. Instead he shoots from 20 yards, but it's a bit too high.

Good run down the touchline from Welbeck to win a throw.

For the last few minutes United have reverted to their first half form.

Fletcher was booked for a tackle on Reid in the build up to the goal.

Jones plays a one-two with Reid, and when the cross comes in, Foster isn't strong enough and Jones heads in.

GOAL! UNITED 1-2 SUNDERLAND 2

The ball is cleared into the air and Evans's back header goes through to Gordon.

It's not a great one from Nani, but Rooney reaches it and wins another corner.

Corner to United.

Cattermole has a kick at Nani and United build from the free kick and win a throw.

Bruce looks worried, and well he might.

Sunderland have hardly had a kick this half.

Great cross Nani, well cleared Turner.

Great run by Anderson and he's unlucky to be penalised - it looked like Bardsley fouled him, if anything.

Fletcher breaks from midfield but overruns the ball and is robed by Ferdinand.

The ball comes back in from O'Shea, and Berbatov produces a quite ridiculous horizontal, facing away from the goal finish that's not quite an overhead kick that sails into the left corner of Gordon's net.

GOAL! UNITED 1-1 SUNDERLAND 1

O'Shea finds Nani and his low cross is only just cleared.

Jones outjumps Vidic but Bent can't capitalise.

Reid wins a free kick off Berbatov.

Ferdinand and Gordon get into a mess after good harrying from Nani, but Rooney's shot is blocked by Turner.

Richardson slides a free kick into touch in amusing fashion.

Anderson's first contribution is a terrible pass in the direction of Berbatov.

United kick off.

Anderson will be replacing Scholes.

Anderson will be replacing Scholes.

Fergie very rarely makes changes at half time, but this might be one such occasion.

That was a terrible, terrible half of boredom, so much so that I'm expecting to still be bored this time tomorrow. Sunderland have, however, shut United down very effectively, and United have done very little about it.

HALF TIME: UNITED 0-1 SUNDERLAND

Free kick to United for a handball that comes to nothing.

Malbranque breaks away from Evra who manages to foul him without being penalised.

Ferdinand beats Berbatov to Fletcher's flick.

Two additional minutes.

Better cross from Nani but Ferdinand deflects it out for a throw.

So far United have been as poor as poverty.

Rooney plays a ball that was never on and becomes angrier.

Richardson fouls Nani. He appears to be too thick to realise that if you let him have the ball, he'll give it back to you soon enough.

Berbatov breaks with the ball, but his pass to Welbeck is careless and underhit.

Rooney dallies in possession and is robbed, followed by the inevitable mini-tantrum, attempting a stamp on Reid.

Sunderland knocking it around.

United penalty claim, Reid appearing to control the ball with his arm, but nothing given.

Sunderland attack well, forcing Vidic into a nervous back header.

Bardsley robs Nani. Fergie's decision to leave his emergency Giggs on the bench is currently looking worse than Richardson.

Nothing United are trying is coming off. Sunderland look confident and composed.

Scholes gives it away again, passing into touch. The hairdryer is being plugged in.

United have yet to make Gordon make a save.

Good interplay between Scholes and Berbatov, but when they work it wide to O'Shea, his cross is poor.

Richardson flattens Welbeck - who's swapped wings with Nani - and is booked.

Rooney finds Welbeck, but his touch is heavy.

Bardsley finds Jones, who fires a low shot that Foster holds low to his left.

United try and work Scholes a shot, but he's quickly closed down. They get the ball wide, and Vidic crosses low and hard, but no one's gambled and Gordon claims.

Cattermole is penalised for a tackl on Evra and United have a free kick on the left, 25 yards from goal. The crowd call for Rooney to remind Nani to get out of the way.

Nani intercepts a pass for Rooney with a self-indulgent backheel to cede possession.

Scholes is booked for clipping Bent's heels.

United's first semi-decent move of the half, involving Scholes, Fletcher, Berbatov and Rooney, but it comes to nothing.

Better from Nani but punched away.

Ridiculously bad from Nani, but United manufacture a shooting chance that wins them another corner.

Corner to United, O'Shea's cross headed behind.

United's passing and movement really isn't there; credit to Sunderland for getting about them.

O'Shea hits an aimless ball at no one.

Bardsley clatters Welbeck for no reason and does well to escape a booking.

I can now confirm that the pigtail is still there.

Corner comes to nothing.

Good cross from O'Shea, Ferdinand does well to get it away from Welbeck. Corner.

Rooney hits it powerfully, but it's at the wall.

Nani is unnecessarily pulled down by Richardson, and United have a free kick on the right of the area, 25 yards or so from goal.

Scholes has just hoofed one forward at nobody. He's already misplaced half as many passes as he did in the entire game last week.

So far I've been unable to see if Kieran Richardson is still sporting the ridiculous little pigtail that makes him even more nauseating.

Rooney races forward and spreads it to Nani, whose cross is characteristically useless.

Reid shoots over from 30 yards. Funny that he's suddenly realised that being fat is not helpful if you're a professional athlete.

Welbeck's first contribution, running infield and spreading the ball wide, but he can't get to the resultant cross.

Foster could possibly have done better with the goal, but it was very nicely done by Bent.

Evra gives the ball away but wins it back with help from Jonny Evans.

United have done nothing so far.

The ball's fed in to Darren Bent, who controls, turns and fires a low shot from 20 yards that beats Foster to his right.

GOAL! UNITED 0 - 1 SUNDERLAND 1

Scholes attempts his trademark inside-out pass, but it's too high for Nani.

Nani does well to chase Richardson and win the ball back.

Sunderland have started confidently.

Turner does well to cut out Berbatov's pass aimed at Rooney.

Paul Scholes has on one of the nastiest pairs of boots I've seen, white with splodges of red.

It's headed away and eventually ends up out of play for a throw to United.

Evra heads it behind for a corner.

Free kick to Sunderland 40 or so yards from goal on the left.

Already some confusion between Foster and Vidic.

Berbativ seems to be playing behind Rooney.

Sunderland kick off.

Fabio Capello is in the ground along with Bandini fellow who follows him aronud. Doesn't he have a television?

Nemanja Vidic has a cut on his forehead that sits very nicely alongside the vein in the region of his temple.

Thinking about it, United might do well to be without Ferdinand today, who is hardly renowned for relishing the physical challenge that'll be presented by Jones and Bent. No doubt Cana and Cattermole will do their bit too, and try and kick seven shades out of United's midfield.

Although you should never be surprised by a Fergie selection, I'm surprised Valencia isn't playing - he could do with some games.

So Welback gets a merited first start for United, for whom Giggs isn't even on the bench. Ferdinand comes in at the back for Sunderland, although his now very injury-prone brother is absent.

and Sunderland: Gordon; Bardsley, Turner, Ferdinand, Richardson; Malbranque, Cana, Cattermole, Reid; Bent, Jones. Subs: Fulop, McCartney, Nosworthy, Campbell, Henderson, Da Silva, Healy.

And here are today's teams: United: Foster; O'Shea, Vidic, Evans, Evra; Nani, Fletcher, Scholes, Welbeck, Rooney, Berbatov. Subs: Kuszczak, Ferdinand, Brown, Anderson, Carrick, Fabio Da Silva, Valencia.

Berbatov is fouled by Ferdinand, who moves the ball away to prevent a quick free kick, and is booked.

I take it back - not a bad miss, still a great interception.

Great play from Henderson along the right by line, he found Malbranque and Jones completely missed his low cross. Good interception from Carrick, but a bad miss.

Sunderland-born Jordan Henderson replaces Andy Reid. I bet there aren't many others in Sunderland called Jordan.

Berbatov gets head to Nani's corner, but it's high.

Rooney, who is looking to do it all on his own, shoots from the edge of the box and Turner deflects it behind.

Berbatov feeds Rooney but his touch is poor and he can't make the return.

Valencia and Carrick replace Fletcher and Welbeck. Welbeck's teammates let him down with that first half effort.

Another good ball from Nani, Turner intercepts.

Good touch from Ferdinand to take the ball away from Berbatov.

Nani's crossing has been excellent this half. Another ball in is headed out by Turner for a corner. Rooney takes it and it's rubbish, but results in another.

Nani's ball is good and United win a corner. Good defending from Jones.

United have a free kick after a foul on Anderson, who has injected some engery.

Berbatov perseveres well down the right, and his cross is backheeled goalwards by Welbeck, but the effort's blocked.

Berbatov is making United tick, they'll be needing to get the ball into him as much as possible.

Unlucky Rooney. Ball's fed into Berbatov, who squares it into Rooney's stride, and he fades a shot not far wide of the far post.

Bardsley is booked for unnecessary mouth.

Welbeck breaks out of defence but Anderson overhits a return pass.

Reid does well to evade Evra and Vidic, who fouls him.

Welbeck miscontrolls a pass from Anderson which prevents him from playing Rooney in. Instead he shoots from 20 yards, but it's a bit too high.

Good run down the touchline from Welbeck to win a throw.

For the last few minutes United have reverted to their first half form.

Fletcher was booked for a tackle on Reid in the build up to the goal.

Jones plays a one-two with Reid, and when the cross comes in, Foster isn't strong enough and Jones heads in.

GOAL! UNITED 1-2 SUNDERLAND 2

The ball is cleared into the air and Evans's back header goes through to Gordon.

It's not a great one from Nani, but Rooney reaches it and wins another corner.

Corner to United.

Cattermole has a kick at Nani and United build from the free kick and win a throw.

Bruce looks worried, and well he might.

Sunderland have hardly had a kick this half.

Great cross Nani, well cleared Turner.

Great run by Anderson and he's unlucky to be penalised - it looked like Bardsley fouled him, if anything.

Fletcher breaks from midfield but overruns the ball and is robed by Ferdinand.

The ball comes back in from O'Shea, and Berbatov produces a quite ridiculous horizontal, facing away from the goal finish that's not quite an overhead kick that sails into the left corner of Gordon's net.

GOAL! UNITED 1-1 SUNDERLAND 1

O'Shea finds Nani and his low cross is only just cleared.

Jones outjumps Vidic but Bent can't capitalise.

Reid wins a free kick off Berbatov.

Ferdinand and Gordon get into a mess after good harrying from Nani, but Rooney's shot is blocked by Turner.

Richardson slides a free kick into touch in amusing fashion.

Anderson's first contribution is a terrible pass in the direction of Berbatov.

United kick off.

Anderson will be replacing Scholes.

Anderson will be replacing Scholes.

Fergie very rarely makes changes at half time, but this might be one such occasion.

That was a terrible, terrible half of boredom, so much so that I'm expecting to still be bored this time tomorrow. Sunderland have, however, shut United down very effectively, and United have done very little about it.

HALF TIME: UNITED 0-1 SUNDERLAND

Free kick to United for a handball that comes to nothing.

Malbranque breaks away from Evra who manages to foul him without being penalised.

Ferdinand beats Berbatov to Fletcher's flick.

Two additional minutes.

Better cross from Nani but Ferdinand deflects it out for a throw.

So far United have been as poor as poverty.

Rooney plays a ball that was never on and becomes angrier.

Richardson fouls Nani. He appears to be too thick to realise that if you let him have the ball, he'll give it back to you soon enough.

Berbatov breaks with the ball, but his pass to Welbeck is careless and underhit.

Rooney dallies in possession and is robbed, followed by the inevitable mini-tantrum, attempting a stamp on Reid.

Sunderland knocking it around.

United penalty claim, Reid appearing to control the ball with his arm, but nothing given.

Sunderland attack well, forcing Vidic into a nervous back header.

Bardsley robs Nani. Fergie's decision to leave his emergency Giggs on the bench is currently looking worse than Richardson.

Nothing United are trying is coming off. Sunderland look confident and composed.

Scholes gives it away again, passing into touch. The hairdryer is being plugged in.

United have yet to make Gordon make a save.

Good interplay between Scholes and Berbatov, but when they work it wide to O'Shea, his cross is poor.

Richardson flattens Welbeck - who's swapped wings with Nani - and is booked.

Rooney finds Welbeck, but his touch is heavy.

Bardsley finds Jones, who fires a low shot that Foster holds low to his left.

United try and work Scholes a shot, but he's quickly closed down. They get the ball wide, and Vidic crosses low and hard, but no one's gambled and Gordon claims.

Cattermole is penalised for a tackl on Evra and United have a free kick on the left, 25 yards from goal. The crowd call for Rooney to remind Nani to get out of the way.

Nani intercepts a pass for Rooney with a self-indulgent backheel to cede possession.

Scholes is booked for clipping Bent's heels.

United's first semi-decent move of the half, involving Scholes, Fletcher, Berbatov and Rooney, but it comes to nothing.

Better from Nani but punched away.

Ridiculously bad from Nani, but United manufacture a shooting chance that wins them another corner.

Corner to United, O'Shea's cross headed behind.

United's passing and movement really isn't there; credit to Sunderland for getting about them.

O'Shea hits an aimless ball at no one.

Bardsley clatters Welbeck for no reason and does well to escape a booking.

I can now confirm that the pigtail is still there.

Corner comes to nothing.

Good cross from O'Shea, Ferdinand does well to get it away from Welbeck. Corner.

Rooney hits it powerfully, but it's at the wall.

Nani is unnecessarily pulled down by Richardson, and United have a free kick on the right of the area, 25 yards or so from goal.

Scholes has just hoofed one forward at nobody. He's already misplaced half as many passes as he did in the entire game last week.

So far I've been unable to see if Kieran Richardson is still sporting the ridiculous little pigtail that makes him even more nauseating.

Rooney races forward and spreads it to Nani, whose cross is characteristically useless.

Reid shoots over from 30 yards. Funny that he's suddenly realised that being fat is not helpful if you're a professional athlete.

Welbeck's first contribution, running infield and spreading the ball wide, but he can't get to the resultant cross.

Foster could possibly have done better with the goal, but it was very nicely done by Bent.

Evra gives the ball away but wins it back with help from Jonny Evans.

United have done nothing so far.

The ball's fed in to Darren Bent, who controls, turns and fires a low shot from 20 yards that beats Foster to his right.

GOAL! UNITED 0 - 1 SUNDERLAND 1

Scholes attempts his trademark inside-out pass, but it's too high for Nani.

Nani does well to chase Richardson and win the ball back.

Sunderland have started confidently.

Turner does well to cut out Berbatov's pass aimed at Rooney.

Paul Scholes has on one of the nastiest pairs of boots I've seen, white with splodges of red.

It's headed away and eventually ends up out of play for a throw to United.

Evra heads it behind for a corner.

Free kick to Sunderland 40 or so yards from goal on the left.

Already some confusion between Foster and Vidic.

Berbativ seems to be playing behind Rooney.

Sunderland kick off.

Fabio Capello is in the ground along with Bandini fellow who follows him aronud. Doesn't he have a television?

Nemanja Vidic has a cut on his forehead that sits very nicely alongside the vein in the region of his temple.

Thinking about it, United might do well to be without Ferdinand today, who is hardly renowned for relishing the physical challenge that'll be presented by Jones and Bent. No doubt Cana and Cattermole will do their bit too, and try and kick seven shades out of United's midfield.

Although you should never be surprised by a Fergie selection, I'm surprised Valencia isn't playing - he could do with some games.

So Welback gets a merited first start for United, for whom Giggs isn't even on the bench. Ferdinand comes in at the back for Sunderland, although his now very injury-prone brother is absent.

and Sunderland: Gordon; Bardsley, Turner, Ferdinand, Richardson; Malbranque, Cana, Cattermole, Reid; Bent, Jones. Subs: Fulop, McCartney, Nosworthy, Campbell, Henderson, Da Silva, Healy.

And here are today's teams: United: Foster; O'Shea, Vidic, Evans, Evra; Nani, Fletcher, Scholes, Welbeck, Rooney, Berbatov. Subs: Kuszczak, Ferdinand, Brown, Anderson, Carrick, Fabio Da Silva, Valencia.