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United play the rearranged game at Southend tomorrow evening, hoping that they can put aside the fact that they have not yet won this year. United will have Dave Waterman back in the reckoning after he served a one match suspension on Saturday and, crucially, James Hunt could also be fit enough to join in the procedings. In addition Lee Steele comes back into the reckoning following his injury in the reserves match against Reading followed by the birth of his child which kept him out of the squad at Hartlepool.

Southend do have Phil Whelan in their squad, but unfortunately he rarely gets to play nowadays. As a result the Shrimpers have, to some extent, turned around their dodgy home form and now could even pose something of a threat to a shakey Us team whose confidence has been rocked since surrendering at Arsenal. Unless Ian Atkins starts to play with some width and some decent link-up between the midfield and the attack then Rage Online predicts another humbling for the Yellows, probably 2-0. If United do get adventurous and use some of the flair players they have in the squad, then we'll predict a 2-1 defeat instead.

Van Nistelouis

According to one of the most spurious rumours we've ever heard, but one that comes from the otherwise reputable BBC web site, Manchester United are poised to pounce for United's “prolific” striker Jefferson Louis. Whilst we accept that the Red Devils can only benefit from such a move, we're not so certain that the owner of United's most famous buttocks would appreciate having to ply his trade at a substandard stadium. Besides which, as a self-confessed Gooner, doesn't he have enough to contend with?