Michael Owen: I'm Fit & Ready for United & England Return

Manchester United will have no shortage of strikers next season. Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez and Dimitar Berbatov will be ready and raring to go as well as those young strikers returning from loan deals; Danny Welbeck, Kiko Macheda and Mame Biram Diouf. One striker whose future is still yet to be decided is a man who Sir Alex Ferguson has described him as "world class", with "absolutely superb" positional play, first touch and finishing.

Surely then, with those qualities, Michael Owen would have no problem in getting into the United side. On the contrary, because of a mixture of both injuries and bad luck, his appearances for United have been limited.

11 appearances this season due to the hamstring injury he suffered during last years Carling Cup final and other unfortunate injuries has seen him score four goals. Despite criticism of being "injury plagued", last season saw a fantastic return from the then 30 year old - 31 appearances and 9 crucial goals.
His last game for England was in 2008 which was incidentally his only appearance under the management of Fabio Capello. 89 appearances and 40 goals for his country however tell a different story.

The new man to Twitter spent today clearing a few things up on the micro-blogging site:

"By the way, to answer a common question: I'm fit. I was on the side of the pitch about to come on last week [against Bolton] until Jonny Evans got sent off."

He also congratulated Gareth Barry on the news that the Manchester City midfielder would captain England on Tuesday against Ghana. He also joked about his England situation:

"Congrats to Gareth Barry, great honour for him. Quite a few dropped out of squad, Mr Capello must be making room for me to return!!!!!!!!!!!" 

In response to some obviously derogatory responses to that Tweet, Owen followed up with this:

"I knew that joke would get a few of you taking the p*** out of me! You certainly need thick skin to play this Tweeting game."

Follow Michael on Twitter @themichaelowen 

Arsenal Striker a Wanted Man

The January transfer market looks as if it may turn into a window for teams to send away their young players on loan to gain match experience and fitness, to return with a possible place for them in the team, and Arsene Wenger will do just that with his Mexican striker, Carlos Vela.

Bolton are a possible destination, and Owen Coyle has been tipped to make a move for the 21 year-old, having already taken Jack Wilshere under his wing in a successful loan period at the Reebok. Wilshere returned to Arsenal and is now a first team regular for Wenger, and often runs the Arsenal midfield - an advantage of loan deals that Vela should carefully consider.

As long as Vela sees his future in English football, he should probably choose to stay in the English League and play regularly to become familiar with the playing style. His other options include Italian side, Chievo Verona of Serie A, or a move to Spain in Deportivo La Coruna and Espanyol while Valencia are said to be front runners:

"With Valencia having been the front runners to sign the Mexico international, Italian outfit Chievo are the latest club to have taken a shining to the 21 year old."

With Manchester United preparing to send Macheda away on loan, and Danny Welbeck already in the middle of a very successful loan spell at Sunderland, it seems the loan is becoming a useful tool for the bigger clubs.

West Ham 4 - 0 Man United - United Humiliated in Cup Quarters

West Ham cruised to a 4 - 0 win against a petty excuse of a Manchester United team. That is something you don't hear very often, but the Carling Cup quarter final showed that Sir Alex Ferguson had massively underestimated the London club.

It was a clash between the top and bottom teams in the Premier League, but by this performance, you wouldn't think that United were the team unbeaten this season and sitting proudly at the top. Their defense was an absolute shambles, their midfield created nothing, and the attack had nothing to work with. It was atrocious. West Ham completely outplayed United in the snow, as the visiting players seemed to take a break in their job as footballers, wondering aimlessly around the pitch, watching Avram Grants side control the game around them.

Jonathon Spector of all people - the former Manchester United defender scored two of the goals for the Hammers, both in the first half, and Carlton Cole scored the other two in the second half.

Victor Obinna of West Ham had a great game - a big threat to United throughout; being the source of most of the chances created. It was a player like this that Ferguson's side were missing. Johnny Evans had a bad game, and he knows it. He was turned too easily for Cole's goal, while the defence in general fell asleep for numerous West Ham attacks.

In truth, after the second goal went in, there wasn't really any way back for United. Sir Alex had no one on his bench who could come on and make an impact. No Rooney, no Berbatov, no Nani. the Scot had no options that he knew could change the game.

We all make mistakes, and Sir Alex made one today. Of course, no one could have expected that his team would perform so poorly, but he should have had one or two top players on the bench that he could rely on to create something if it came it. In the end, it did come to it, and Ferguson wasn't prepared.

West Ham have breezed passed the holders of the competition with ease, and humiliated the young United team in the process. Before the game United were unbeaten in all competitions this season. That record is shattered in pieces as the Red Devils travel to Blackpool on the weekend, but it is a huge confidence boost for the struggling Hammers who travel to Sunderland on Sunday on the back of a brilliant 4 - 0 win.

Being Unbeaten Isn't Good Enough for Manchester United

6 draws in 7 away League matches for Manchester United. They have drawn more in the Premier League season than they have won. Games against Fulham, Sunderland, West Brom, Everton and Bolton, games that the title challengers should be expecting to win, they haven't.

Aston Villa on Saturday was always going to be a tough game for United, especially considering the injuries and mid-week game that ended up as a dull 0 - 0 draw which gave the Red Devils no momentum going into the week-end. The result? A draw. But only just.

Sir Alex Ferguson said of his teams performance:

"we were all over the place,"

United went behind to an Ashley Young penalty in the 72nd minute, and Albrighton doubled Villa's lead four minutes later. This season, United have found themselves in Aston Villa's position more than once; up by a couple of goals with the opposition coming back into the game. They must have learned something from their own performances, as they clawed their way back for a 2-2 draw. Macheda in the 81st and a Vidic goal in the 85th minute.

Ferguson observed:

"Another five minutes and we'd have won."

This may have have been true, but they had 95 minutes to win the game, and the team simply didn't play well enough to get the win from a good Aston Villa side. It was the last few minutes that they seemed to come to life.

United find themselves 3 points behind Chelsea with Chelsea having a game in hand. United are still unbeaten this season, but being unbeaten will not win them the title while Chelsea are still winning.