This weekend Manchester United travel to Merseyside for an unusually late kick off. At seven o’clock on Sunday night, they’ll face Frank Lampard’s Everton, who haven’t lost in the Premier League since dropping points to Chelsea on the sixth of August.
Conversely, United are coming into the game on the back of an infamous 6-3 hiding at the hands of crosstown rivals, Manchester City.
That loss and a stuttering mid-week performance against Cypriot side, Omonia Nicosia, has thrown the reds’ previous good form into doubt. Now, it’s difficult to know what to expect this weekend.
Manchester United
Before that dramatic and memorable loss to City, United had strung together four wins, punctuated by stand-out victories over Arsenal and Liverpool. The performances were good too, but stumbling performances in the Europa League and the derby have raised question marks and Cristiano Ronaldo continues to be a much-debated presence, despite a lack of form in the new campaign.
The reappearance of Raphael Varane will be crucial come Sunday. Following an injury against City, there was a doubt as to his fitness, but all indications are that the French international will be able to return to the starting XI this weekend. He’s struck up a good partnership with new arrival Lisandro Martinez and the pair look the most cohesive centre back pairing the club has seen in several seasons. Erik Ten Hag claims the Champions League-winning defender is likely to be available – fingers crossed he’s right.
Marcus Rashford showed his form on Thursday and his importance to the team. Joining the Omonia game as a substitute, he netted twice to save his team-mates’ blushes and avoid dropping points in embarrassing fashion.
Line-up
We’re hopeful Varane will appear on Sunday and believe his presence is an important one. However, Cristiano Ronaldo failed to make an impact in recent appearances and looks set to take a place on the bench again, most likely.
While we would argue a return to the XI that started against Arsenal would be a good policy and could recapture some of the attacking dynamism of that performance, it’s also possible that Anthony Martial’s recent performances and goals may see Marcus Rashford pushed out onto the left wing, with him taking a starting place up front. Otherwise, expect him to appear from the bench again.
Tyrell Malacia had a torrid time against Omonia in mid-week, but it seems worthwhile to give him a chance to recapture his form as he was instrumental in some of the best defensive performances United have put in this season.
With that in mind, we would like to see United line-up like this:
De Gea, Dalot, Varane, Martinez, Malacia, McTominay, Eriksen, Sancho, Fernandes, Antony, Rashford
Opposition
Everton have won their last two, defeating Southampton and West Ham. Those were important, confidence-building wins for the Toffees but both sets of opposition were in awful form. Whether or not they’ll be a stern test for United remains to be seen.
“We realise there is a long way for us to go,” Lampard told BBC following the Southampton win.
The ex-Chelsea man seemed to suggest that the results of late have been better than the performances, but believes the team has something to build on.
He added: “There are glimpses – there were big glimpses against West Ham but we haven’t had lots of time to work with the team […] There’s a nice competitive feel to the squad but we can get a lot better and we’ve got hard games coming up so we need to stay on it.”
It will be interesting to see how – and indeed if – Lampard has managed to build on those ‘glimpses’ of form.
Prediction
As detailed earlier, we expect United to line-up as they did in that exciting win over Arsenal. If that’s the case and that side can muster some of the attacking verve they found in that win, it’s likely to be a return to winning ways for Ten Hag’s reds.
We remain hopeful that United will recapture some form and fight back after an awful derby-day loss. We’re predicting a 3-1 Manchester United.