Zlatan misses the boat as United head east
PA PhotosManchester United's Rio Ferdinand has yet to sign a new contract The Puskas Award is FIFA's official competition to determine the best goal scored in world football each year. The world governing body scours strikes from all of the worldwide leagues in an attempt to find the finest finish on the planet. With expert timing, they announced the ten finalists for this year's competition on Wednesday morning. Ten hours later, Zlatan Ibrahimovic rendered the entire award a waste of time
Zlatan scored four against an England team featuring three offensive United players this week and you can only hope they were taking notes. The overhead kick has sparked a wide round of debates and the Swede's performance can only be admired. United fans will be quietly pleased that Danny Welbeck clinically finished his chance in Scandinavia. Welbeck has had five shots on target for the national team and scored from every one of them.
Miraculously, the list of finalists for the Puskas Award contained no Norwich goals. In 1993, United travelled to Carrow Road and faced a Norwich team who were still competing for the title. United took the spoils that year but the following season, in the UEFA Cup, Norwich beat Bayern Munich in Germany.
Another famous win for the Canaries came in 2005, when they beat United 2-0 in Norfolk despite having an otherwise lacklustre season in the top flight. United travel east this weekend looking to consolidate their position at the top of the table and will be looking to avoid that kind of slip up.
Although a matter for contention, Rio Ferdinand no longer being selected for the national team works in United's favour. What does not is the saga over his contract. Earlier in the week, the centre half claimed he had not given thought to re-signing despite his current deal expiring in the summer. United fans have been here before with Rio. His negotiations in 2003 seriously tested the patience of fans and it would be nice to see him commit more quickly this time. In particular, this is a period where an experienced defender is crucial in the dressing room.
It is difficult to predict which players will be fit this weekend, although a number withdrew from international squads with minor injuries. Some may heal incredibly before kick-off on Saturday and it would be particularly nice if Robin van Persie was one of them.
Fergie's promise last week that Javier Hernandez will start can expect to be kept. Norwich have beaten Arsenal and Stoke at home recently and defender Sebastien Bassong has gone on the record this week to state "we can do it". No doubt he has noticed United conceding goals this season.
Despite their lowly position in the table, Norwich have played well so far this term and seem intent on testing United's porous defence. The men in red may well need to score more than one goal to secure victory, but they long for something they haven't achieved for eight matches now; a clean sheet.
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