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Email adam.hurrey@telegraph.co.uk or tweet @FootballCliches with your hangover cures and thoughts on Louis van Gaal's first Premier League visit to Stoke City.
12.33 1999 winner of Britain's Best Dressed Man, Dwight Yorke, is in the Sky studio, but his grey suit is a half-hearted effort by his standards.
12.22 My colleague Darren Richman has offered his favourite recent memory of this fixture - a highly unorthodox header by current Real Madrid spare wheel Javier Hernandez (warning - this video contains the seemingly obligatory annoying background music):
12.11 United's attacking quartet of Mata, Rooney, Van Persie and Falcao start once again. At the other end, a three-man central defence of Jones, Smalling and Evans actually looks quite Stoke-resistant. Just before Christmas, Chelsea provided the template for getting a result at the Britannia while Arsenal very much did not. This could go either way, you suspect.
12.02 A hamstring injury keeps Bojan out for Stoke, which is a shame, but the willingest of willing runners Jonathan Walters is in to more than make up the numbers.
11.57 A clearly very experienced John McEnerney writes in with a detailed hangover cure:
Happy New Year Adam, best hangover cures that work for me are 2 Big Macs or a breakfast roll (2 rashers, 2 sausages, white pudding, 2 hash browns with Chef brown sauce) both accompanied by a pint of milk. As for LVG's first visit to Stoke I can see MUFC having a frustrating afternoon .
11.54 I'm eating the best bacon sandwich I've had in, ooh, at least a decade and, more importantly, I have team news:
Stoke City: Begovic, Cameron, Shawcross, Muniesa, Pieters, N'Zonzi, Whelan, Arnautovic, Walters, Diouf, Crouch
Subs: Butland, Bardsley, Huth, Wilson, Adam, Assaidi, Shenton
Manchester United: De Gea, Young, Jones, Smalling, Evans, Shaw, Carrick, Mata, Rooney, van Persie, Falcao
Subs: Lindegaard, Blackett, Rafael, Fletcher, Herrera, Januzaj, Wilson
11.42 A very good morning and a Happy New Year to you all. How's the head, etc? You'll be disappointed to have woken up in 2015 to find that, no, hoverboards are not a widely available method of transport:
Anyway, we do have Stoke City vs Manchester United. Stoke's distinctly mid-table form has been punctuated by eye-catching wins away at Manchester City and Tottenham, and - thrillingly - at home to Arsenal. United's run of six straight wins was halted by a couple of dour draws with Aston Villa and Tottenham, but their post-Moyes momentum is evidently gathering.
It's undoubtedly a contrast of styles at the Britannia but, in Mark Hughes and Louis van Gaal, there are two managers without an ounce of self-doubt between them. Stoke might fancy a dig or two at the ribs of United's ever-changing back line, though, which should make for a decent spectacle to kick off 2015.
Did any of that make sense? I seriously hope so.
MATCH PREVIEW
Stoke manager Mark Hughes believes Louis van Gaal is the "strong figurehead" Manchester United need and insists the Red Devils can still win the title this season.
United are unbeaten since November 2 and have won seven of their last nine league matches ahead of their trip to the Britannia Stadium on New Year's Day.
That run has seen Van Gaal's side climb to third and Hughes, who played 467 times for United, believes the Dutchman is starting to make his mark at Old Trafford.
"Suddenly he seems to be the right figurehead for the club," Hughes said.
"He's the guy you sense they need given last year was a time of transition for them.
"They're still going through that process to a certain extent so they need a strong person at the head of the club and he certainly gives that impression."
No manager has used more players in the Barclays Premier League this season than Van Gaal, who has handed appearances to 26 of his first-team squad so far.
Despite United's excellent run of results, their performances have not always been convincing and Hughes believes Van Gaal is still working out his best team and style of play.
"It's still early days," Hughes said.
"Van Gaal seems to talk about his philosophy a lot and any philosophy you have as a manager takes time to instil.
"He's changed personnel, given guys who were out in the cold another opportunity, changing shape and formations.
"That takes time, it takes time for the players to take information on board and perhaps he's clearing his mind for the way he wants to go long-term, only time will tell."
United are 10 points behind league leaders Chelsea and seven back on Manchester City but Hughes feels his opponents on Thursday are still in contention to become champions in May.
"I think they are title contenders, they may have given themselves too much to do - they're 10 points back at the moment and there are very strong teams ahead of them," Hughes said.
"They're coming into a run of form now which will encourage them and that's what they need to do, they can't afford to have too many more slip ups.
"Hopefully we'll be able to overcome them and that will be four defeats - historically you can't afford more than six to seven. If you have that many defeats it's almost impossible to win the Premier League.
"They'll be aware of that but they have the players to go on an extended run as they're doing at the moment."
Consecutive wins over Everton and West Brom have pushed Stoke up to 11th in the table, six points behind sixth place.
Hughes is delighted with the Potters' progress and wants to add United to an impressive list of scalps this season that already includes Manchester City, Tottenham, Arsenal and Everton.
"2014 has been great for us - I think we've picked up more points in the calendar year than any other Stoke team in the Premier League," Hughes said.
"But United are a good team, it's up to us to ask questions of them.
"Our record against the top teams has been good and they'll know they will be in for a tough game.
"It's a difficult place to come if you're a top team and we need to make sure that continues."
Team news
Stoke striker Bojan Krkic is a major doubt for his side's Premier League match at home to Manchester United on New Year's Day.
Krkic came off with a hamstring injury in the second half of Stoke's 1-0 victory at Everton on Boxing Day and the 24-year-old underwent a scan on Tuesday.
Phil Bardsley missed last weekend's 2-0 win over West Brom with an ankle problem and is likely to be absent again while Stephen Ireland (knee), Victor Moses (thigh) and Pete Odemwingie (knee) are all out.
United midfielder Angel di Maria is back in training following his pelvic injury and could feature.
Forward Adnan Januzaj (illness) and midfielder Ander Herrera (muscle problem) have also trained this week and may return to the starting XI for the match at the Britannia Stadium.
Marcos Rojo (thigh), Daley Blind (knee) and Marouane Fellaini (illness) are likely to miss out, however.
Match notes
It was a Boxing Day victory at Stoke City in 2008, earned by a late Carlos Tevez winner, which Sir Alex Ferguson regularly credited as being the catalyst for a new year surge to the title five months later and Louis van Gaal will need another Britannia win if his insistence that Manchester United can still win this season’s title rings true. United have much ground to make up, so January 1 is a good place to start.
Referee: Michael Oliver: 14 Y57 R2
Betting: Home 3-1, Away 19-20, Draw 23-10.
Stat of the game: Robin van Persie has scored 10 goals in 10 Premier League matches against Stoke.
Mark Ogden's prediction: Stoke City 1 Manchester United 2
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