Premier League preview: Blackpool v Manchester United

Goalkeeper Paul Rachubka is hoping to retain his place in the Blackpool side for the visit of his former club Manchester United on Tuesday.

The American-born stopper made his first league appearance in more than 12 months when he replaced the injured Richard Kingson at Bloomfield Road on Saturday.

The Seasiders were beaten 2-1 by Sunderland and Rachubka pulled off a number of fine saves in the 30 minutes he was on the field.

“Richard had eight stitches in his head which isn’t nice and you don’t wish that on anybody but it doesn’t look good,” Rachubka, 29, said on the club website.

“It’s 10 years now since I played for United and I’ve been here, there and everywhere since but this is what I aimed to come back to with Blackpool in the Premier League, something I genuinely believed we could do when I first joined.”

“I haven’t thought about United because I’ve been so focused on getting myself fit but there’s a chance I could play and if I do then I genuinely believe we can beat them.”

“On our day we’ve seen that we can do that, we’ve beaten Liverpool before and we score goals, we get around sides and we’ve got a chance,” the keeper added.

“I went through a range of emotions when Richard went down; I went out for a warm-up and went through the routine and hoping he’s alright.”

“Unfortunately he wasn’t and I got my chance but you don’t really get time to think about it, you just go straight out there and go for it.”

“I wasn’t nervous, I love playing at Bloomfield Road, that’s where I work, it’s my stage and I love to perform on it.”

If manager Ian Holloway continues with Rachubka, the ‘keeper will face a United side keen to add to their already impressive 22-game unbeaten run.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson has challenged his strikers to follow Dimitar Berbatov’s path to 20 goals this season.

Berbatov’s third hat-trick of the campaign in Saturday’s 5-0 win over Birmingham took the Bulgarian to 18 goals, all but one of which have been scored in the Premier League.

Javier Hernandez and Nani are the closest to Berbatov with nine and eight respectively while Wayne Rooney is stuck on three, two of which came from the penalty spot.

“Dimitar is getting up towards that 20-goal mark, which is going to be important for us,” said Ferguson.

“It does put a certain brand mark on the team and hopefully we will get another one to that level too. Once you do that you know it is a substantial season.”

Berbatov has now equalled Ruud van Nistelrooy’s feat during the 2002-03 title winning campaign by scoring three hat-tricks in a season.

The 29-year-old is also closing in on the five Alan Shearer scored in 1995-96, which remains a Premier League record, even if he is unlikely to match the seven Denis Law scored for United in all competitions during the 1963-64 campaign.

“Dimitar is realising his ability,” said Ferguson. “The other players sense it too. They are playing their part in playing with him. He has special qualities. I think we are using them.”