Alex Ferguson has won the Premier League a dozen times with Manchester United. Never in his 25-year reign, though, has he had a better start to a season.
Now a Stoke side renowned for its physical play stands in the way of a sixth successive victory as Ferguson’s team tries to keep pace with the 10 wins in a row to open a season achieved by Ron Atkinson’s United in 1985.
Stoke has already beaten Liverpool and held Chelsea this season, but has lost all six matches against United in the Premier League era.
And Ferguson readily defends Saturday’s opponents against criticism of their style of play.
“I think everyone plays to their strengths and that’s what they do,” Ferguson said Friday. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.”
Stoke’s aerial threat could pose problems for goalkeeper David De Gea, who has been inconsistent since arriving in the offseason.
“Our last away game was against Bolton and they’re quite similar in that they also play a lot of high balls into the box,” United defender Jonny Evans said. “We did well against Bolton, though, so I’m confident we can take parts of that game plan into this weekend ... you find yourself involved in the game a lot more than when you play against sides that adopt a more continental approach and try and keep the ball on the ground.
“It’s more demanding for a defender and I think you also have to be clever when you play physical teams. You have to be careful not to be sucked into the physical battles around the pitch.”
Stoke, FA Cup runner-up in May, is fifth in the league and only lost for the first time this season at Sunderland last weekend after a grueling Europa League trip to Ukraine.
“They’re making a big impact,” Ferguson said. “I see Stoke becoming quite an important side. The progress Stoke have made over the last few years is phenomenal.”
Javier Hernandez will be in contention to play after no serious damage resulted from Ashley Cole’s tackle that forced him to limp out of Sunday’s 3-1 victory over Chelsea.
“Hernandez is very lucky,” Ferguson said. “At the time he had no feeling in the leg. There was numbness and we thought there might have been some nerve damage, but he trained very well yesterday and is available.”
United has a two-point lead over Manchester City, which hosts Everton a week after its perfect start to the season ended with a draw at Fulham.
And City has lost seven of its last eight meetings with northwest rival Everton.
“We are suited at times to play on the counterattack and City play 4-2-4 so there’ll be a chance to hit them on the break,” Everton defender Phil Jagielka said. “We did that last year with two early goals and managed to see that out until the end.”
Arsenal is already playing catch-up with City and United as the usual top-four finisher is perched a point above the relegation zone after losing three of its opening five matches.
Winger Theo Walcott called it “relegation form” on Friday.
“Of course I am worried,” manager Arsene Wenger added. “It is absolutely not realistic not to be worried when you have a team like Manchester United in front of you. The only thing we can do is focus on our performances, win our games and hope (United) will drop some points at some stage.”
But it was Arsenal that self-destructed at Blackburn last Saturday, scoring two own—goals in the second half and blowing a 2-1 lead in the 4-3 loss.
“Our start of the season was disturbed by the transfers (of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri) and by the fact that we had to qualify for the Champions League,” Wenger said. “We lost a lot of energy in these games.”
Liverpool started the season strongly, but goes into Saturday’s match against Wolverhampton Wanderers looking to avoid a third consecutive loss. Wolves have also lost their last two matches.
“We know it was not acceptable (losing 4-0 to Tottenham on Sunday) but the good thing is that the players realize it is not acceptable,” Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish said. “We don’t get carried away with the victories we have and we won’t get suicidal over the defeats we have either.
“At the same time we have to address the problems, if we have them, and we will do. We’ll do it properly and professionally. We’ll try and get ourselves back up and running on Saturday.”
After beating Liverpool, Tottenham is at Wigan on Saturday when West Bromwich Albion also hosts Fulham and Newcastle takes on Blackburn.
In Sunday’s only match, Queens Park Rangers hosts Aston Villa.
