Beardo looks ahead to Tuesday night's Worthington Cup Third Round ties, starting with the big one at Old Trafford
Manchester United v Leicester City
You can tell there is something different about the Worthington Cup this season when Sir Alex Ferguson says he doesn't intend to field a team of reserves. At least that's the way it looks as the United manager revealed: "We will be playing a strong side on Tuesday."
Was that a slip of the tongue or was he referring to Leicester City? We will see, but Fergie did add: "We will be middle of the road with a good nucleus of first team and maybe three or four youngsters."
That means a possible start for impressive youngsters Kieran Richardson and Lee Roache as well as a continuation of coming back to full fitness for Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville.
David Beckham has been given the week off, following the news of a foiled kidnap attempt, to spend time with his family so Diego Forlan will be relishing the prospect of continuing his fine form of late when he has been showing exactly what United bought for £7 million.
His match-winning strike against Southampton was truly world class and what made it so special was that it looked as if he actually intended the ball to flash into the net as it did, giving the keeper no chance.
There are also a couple of factors that could make this a potential banana-skin for United. Firstly, Leicester are going so well in Division One and are coming off the back of ending Portsmouth's unbeaten home record. Add to that the fact that there are enough Premiership players, from the squad relegated last season, to ensure it will not be Premier v Division One.
That said Leicester, although they have only lost one game on the road this season are struggling to score goals away from home. The Foxes have only hit the net nine times in eight games whilst conceding ten, conversely United are hardly setting the scoring charts alight at Old Trafford. The Reds have scored just nine goals in front of their own fans though the miserly defence has conceded just three, in seven games.
Form suggests that United will be too strong for Leicester but will the atmosphere at OT motivate the visitors more than United.
Birmingham City v Preston North End
The Blues will look back to their Worthington Cup Final appearance against Liverpool as the turning point in their attempts to climb out of Division One, into the Premiership.
On paper this one is a home banker, especially when the mid-table position currently occupied by Birmingham is taken into consideration. Even more so when Preston's solitary away win is thrown into the equation but will City thoughts be more on their Premiership place than progress in this competition.
Preston are a side capable of penetrative football and in David Healy they have a top-flight international striker. They also have, back in the side, Ricardo Fuller and he warmed up for Tuesday's game with a brace of goals in Preston's 3-1 home win over Burnley and he will love the occasion.
Another player for Blues to be wary of is Richard Creswell. He has been bang in form for the Deepdale side so if Birmingham serve up anything less than the 'Full Monty' at St Andrews it is they who will be nakedly embarrassed come the final whistle on Tuesday.
Wigan v Manchester City
What a cracker of a tie and such is the importance that Kevin Keegan places on this one that he will field a full-strength Manchester City side for a very tricky game. The City boss won't even allow Nicolas Anelka leave to play in a charity game in France despite the player wanting to go.
City warmed up for the short trip to the JJB Stadium with a 2-1 win at West Brom, in which Anelka was outstanding. At the same time high-flying Wigan were consolidating their third place in Division Two with a 2-0 win over Crewe giving the Latics an impressive home record of just one reverse in nine home league games.
Keegan will be making his players aware of the form of leading goalscorer Nathan Ellington, who has hit ten goals so far this season in the league alone. It was Ellington who dumped West Brom out of the Worthington Cup, in the last round, and he could well be Wigan's ace in the hole come Tuesday night.
Wimbledon v Rotherham United
There was a time when this one would have been a home banker but how the times have changed. The Dons are struggling to find a home though they managed okay to thump high-flying Norwich at the weekend, 4-2 with David Connolly netting a hat-trick. Rotherham beware because the Irish international, who has had a torrid time since a pre-season ligament injury.
The striker, who has scored five times in the last three matches, said: "I still have more fitness to come back yet and am not yet at 100 per cent."
Ominously, for Rotherham, since Connolly resumed his striking partnership with Neil Shipperley, five games ago, Wimbledon are unbeaten.
Rotherham have slipped from their superb start to the season and while the tie will be seen as a meeting of equals The Millers have scored an impressive 18 goals away from home in the league, the best total in Division One. Ironically their leading scorer, ten-goal Alan Lee, is just one goal behind Shipperley in the divisional scoring charts.
