Just about a level playing field

SOCCER:MORE THAN three decades and a half after the Uefa Cup final between Tottenham and Wolves in which all 25 of the players who featured over two legs were English, 10 or more nationalities will be represented in the starting line-ups tonight at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow, where the eagerly anticipated final of the game's richest club competition will be between two Premier league outfits for the very first time.

The sides are so evenly matched and know each other so well by now that in terms of quality as well as possible outcomes it appears impossible to separate them.

The only man sure to have a bad night, it seems, is Igor Konovalov, head of Moscow's public-safety department, who despite the presence of more than 40,000 English fans for a game due to kick off at 10.45pm local time, was reported yesterday as saying, "If fans are drunk, don't you worry, we'll make them sober. They must know they must not come to the game drunk, or indeed to the city."

When asked about his side's recent record against Chelsea - they've won just two of their last 14 encounters with the Londoners - Alex Ferguson was a little more realistic, admitting it was a poor return but insisting, "Our record this season and last season, demands respect. It (the longer-term statistic) is a bad record but I don't pay attention to it. I trust my players to do their job."

Crucially, when pressed about the somewhat cautious approach he has tended to adopt against his side's closest rivals of the past few seasons, the Scot was ambiguous, insisting on the one hand his own players had to be allowed play to their own strengths - moving and passing - but acknowledging it would be bordering on reckless not to take account of the strength Chelsea possessed in players like "(Didier) Drogba, (Michael) Ballack and Frank Lampard".

The policing of the Ivorian striker Drogba in what might well be his last game for Chelsea will be entrusted to Ferguson's central defenders.

But the need to counter the powerful running from midfield of the other two has generated the expectation here that rather than choose between Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick, Ferguson will opt to start both in a 4-3-3 formation, Ji-Sung Park being the player to lose out.

The Scot won't view the shift in emphasis as surrendering the initiative in the way he did at Stamford Bridge last month, and the starting line-up will certainly be much stronger, most notably in attack. Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez and Paul Scholes will all start, while Wayne Rooney will be much fitter than when he scored then limped out of the 2-1 defeat.

The loss to injury early on of Nemanja Vidic that day was another blow and United could do with the Serb staying fit this evening if Drogba is to be contained.

How the Slovakian referee Lubos Michel, who memorably sent Jose Mourinho into denial by giving Luis Garcia's semi-final goal at Anfield three years ago, handles the situation could also prove a major factor.

In terms of performances, though, Chelsea also need certain things to go well on the night.

With Michael Essien replacing Paolo Ferreira at right back, they will be stronger in defence, but much will depend on their ability to dominate midfield, an area that tends to drive their superiority over many sides less formidable than the one they face tonight.

The Frenchman Claude Makelele will seek to minimise the influence of Scholes and will need to find the energy from somewhere to keep going through the second half, for in both of the semi-final games against Liverpool, Steven Gerrard's influence steadily increased as the former Real Madrid midfielder tired late in the game.

Either side of him, Ballack and Lampard will aim to provide additional cover to the defence when required while getting forward at every opportunity. The importance of their role in the attack is greatly increased by Joe Cole's relative loss of form and the general inability of either Florent Malouda or Saloman Kalou to make an impact in any big game they have started this season.

Ferguson will this afternoon tell his players what the team is, and he spoke at some length yesterday of how difficult it will be to disappoint those who do not even make the bench.

Hopefully, John O'Shea will make that cut, after which his chances of getting on will depend on the manager's view of how the contest is panning out.

The state of the pitch may yet play some part in deciding which way this evening's final goes. And the higher quality of their passing throughout the season suggests United would be the more likely to suffer if the surface becomes a factor.

A new sod, hurriedly imported from Slovakia, was laid just 16 days ago after the one that initially replaced the usual artificial pitch was adjudged to be too bumpy.

An Englishman, Matt Frost, oversaw the pitch-laying and says the surface is "acceptable" but "disappointing", and it certainly looked decidedly poor during training yesterday, with small patches of brown and the joins between the sections clearly visible.

Still, while some wag in the Chelsea press office happily pointed out that the Londoners have a 100 per cent record in this competition on "Slovakian soil", Ferguson made light of the situation, observing Uefa "had done its best", and Old Trafford itself was "not always great in January or February".

Don't expect tonight's losers to be nearly so philosophical come the final whistle.