Vieira expects United backlash

PATRICK VIEIRA has warned Manchester City to expect a United backlash at Old Trafford tomorrow.

The warring Mancunian factions go head-to-head this weekend, seven days after Alex Ferguson’s men lost their unbeaten league record at Wolves.

It was a result that allowed Vieira’s old club Arsenal, despite their collapse at Newcastle, to trim United’s lead at the top of the Barclays Premier League to four points, while City closed to within five.

But if the Blues, who are sweating on the fitness of Mario Balotelli and Nigel de Jong, feel their neighbours will be easier to overcome tomorrow lunchtime now they have tasted defeat in the league, Vieira has warned them to think again

“We must expect a backlash and a battle,” Vieira said. “Big clubs like United always talk about the importance of never losing two times in a row. They will want to bounce back to winning ways immediately.”

City first-team coach David Platt is equally wary and warned United’s title challenge is not about to crumble and fall apart — even if the Blues go to Old Trafford and win tomorrow.

Platt says the three points on offer is more important than Manchester bragging rights — and that in itself is a testimony to the strides forward City have made in the past two years.

Defeat for United would turn the blip at Wolves into a mini-crisis, but Platt says City cannot afford to be distracted by whatever happens across town.

“We can’t go to Old Trafford, win the match, and then hope that a team which has never capitulated under pressure in ten or 12 years of the Premier League will do so,” said Platt.

“We should be hoping to do something we can control, which is win every football match we play between now and the end of the season.

“That’s a tall order but you take each game as it comes, and that starts at Old Trafford. If we can take the three points we will take them.

“But we aren’t looking over the road and thinking that dressing room, with the experience it has got, and the winners it has got, will capitulate just because it loses a game.”

Platt suggested City go to Old Trafford seeking to compete on equal terms for the first time in many years, rather than being the feisty underdogs seeking to upset the odds.

And he says City are also seeking to enjoy the game.

“We are looking forward to it,” he said. “We have a dozen games left and go to Old Trafford thinking we are capable of winning the game.

“It’s a big one and the tension has been building up all week, but the be-all and end-all is that it is about three points and continuing along our road. That’s a compliment to where we are at as a football club, that we are not just talking about it in sole terms of it being a derby. It’s just another game from which we have to take three points if we are going to achieve what we want to achieve.”

For Vieira, meanwhile, any meeting with the Red Devils inevitably brings back memories of his personal feud with Roy Keane, which memorably reached its nadir in the Highbury tunnel in 2005 as the teams were waiting to come out onto the pitch before kick-off.

The sight of the two warriors finger-jabbing told its own story of their commitment to the cause, and though Gary Neville’s loose tongue was said to have started it, Vieira still admires the newly-retired full-back.

“He had a fantastic career,” said Vieira.

“I respect him because he had been at United his whole career and he won trophies and was a permanent fixture in the starting XI.

“Yes, I had a problem with him, but I had a problem with a lot of players.”

How many more of these matches Vieira will be involved in remains to be seen.

After all, most of the United side he sparred with for so long have now retired. It cannot be long before the Frenchman joins them.

“I have six months left and am enjoying my football,” he said. “But I have to be realistic

“I’ll be 35 next season and I know it will hard to play every game.

“I have to see if I am willing to accept playing only one or two games every three or four months.”