Here we go again! Manchester United are back in Premier League action. After scraping through the third round of the FA Cup with a 1-0 win over Aston Villa earlier this week. United travel down to Villa Park to take on Steven Gerrard’s men in the Premier League.
Opposition
Aston Villa will no doubt come into this game feeling as though they have something of a point to prove. The fact that they lost to United in the cup less than a week ago. Couple that with them having played better than United did in that game and probably deserving the win themselves. I think Villa could come into this game with some real fight. Add in the new signings they have just made potentially making their debut and Rangnick could be coming up against a more difficult opposition.
With that in mind here is how I think Villa could line up. Starting from the back with Martínez in net. And then a centre-back pairing of Konsa and Mings. With Matt Cash at right-back, Gerrard could look to give new signing Lucas Digne his debut at left-back. In the midfield we could see some changes as well. With John McGinn being suspended we could see Morgan Sanson brought in alongside Douglas Luiz and Jacob Ramsey. With an attack most likely being comprised of Watkins, Beundía and Coutinho.
Manchester United
The whole atmosphere around the club at the moment is very strange. Our last few matches we have put in some frankly terrible performances. Villa, Wolves, Newcastle and Norwich to name but a few. And sure during that time we have managed to get by with some results. But we can’t keep going on like this hoping that we can just get away with it, because we won’t. I don’t really know how we are going to see anything that different in all honesty. Hopefully, Ralf sticks with the change in formation that we saw last time out.
With that in mind, here is how I think we are going to line up. David de Gea in net goes without saying at this point. I think Varane and Lindelöf will return as centre-backs. With Luke Shaw suspended because of yellow cards we will see Alex Telles at left-back. And I think we will see Diogo Dalot return at right-back. As a midfield two I’d expect to see Fred alongside Matic, with McTominay being suspended as well.
Hopefully we can see some real width with a three playing in front of those two. Hopefully, Jadon Sancho is back to full fitness and we can see the return of him. Perhaps playing on the left, with Mason Greenwood on the right. Bruno Fernandes in the number 10. I could see Rashford being dropped just because of some really poor performances lately. And then if Ronaldo is fully fit I would expect to see him start, if not Cavani up top will do just fine.
Score Prediction
I think this will be a really tough game. I can’t see United keeping another clean sheet against Villa. Especially if the likes of Coutinho start and if Lucas Digne looks threatening down the left hand side. If United have the likes of Sancho, Ronaldo and Greenwood all firing on full cylinders then we should have the firepower to walk away with all three points. That being said I just do not see us keeping a clean sheet here. So I am going for a 2-1 United win.