The Champions kick-off the new 2009/10 campaign with a home match against newly promoted Birmingham with three points looking very much on the cards. The Blues have a poor Premier League record at the Theatre of Dreams of five straight defeats and no goals scored which suggests there won’t be any shocks this weekend. Sir Alex will be pleased that United’s Ronaldo-less era begins in Manchester with what looks on paper looks an obvious home win.

Birmingham’s overall record against the Red Devils doesn’t make for great reading as they’ve actually failed to score in 8 of the last 10 Premier League meetings and picked up a mere two points in the process. However, Sir Alex Ferguson’s side have been known to drop points in opening day games in recent campaigns. Surprisingly they’ve only won two opening day matches from the last five seasons.

With Ronaldo and Tevez having left the club, there is far more emphasis on Dimitar Berbatov to play a more integral role this season. The Bulgarian only scored 9 league goals in 31 appearances but is sure to better that record after a full pre-season. Berbatov did top the league in terms of assists from open play with nine, so he was not quite the flop many have written him off to be. Michael Owen has joined the ranks which is another shrewd move by Sir Alex. Michael will always score goals and United will create plenty of chances for him to finish off as he has proved in pre-season. It certainly wouldn’t surprise anyone if he scored at the weekend.

Alex McLeish has brought in a number of new recruits including £8.5m Ecuadorian striker Christian Benitez who arrives with a good reputation but is totally unproven at Premier League level. Roger Johnson impressed on Cardiff’s FA Cup run two seasons ago and should improve Birmingham defensively while Barry Ferguson will add vast amounts of experience in the middle of the park.

The Blues board have backed their manager this summer but it’s hard to see anything other than a home win for the champions. They’ll miss the individual genius of Ronaldo but they still have far too much in their armoury for Birmingham whose new boys face a baptism of fire at Old Trafford. So I’m backing United to win on Premier 10 although it may not be as easy as some may expect.

Alan Hansen’s Premier 10 pick: HOME WIN

Read the rest of Alan’s previews below:

Tags: Alan Hansen, Birmingham, Manchester United, Premier 10

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