The international break is over and that can only mean one thing. Premier League football is back. On Saturday 20th November Manchester United travel down to Vicarage Road to take on Watford.
Opposition
Watford come into this game in a pretty poor run of form. In their last six matches, they have only managed one win and one draw. In the Premier League they have 3 wins, 1 draw and 7 losses to their name, sitting them just two points off the relegation zone. This, however, doesn’t seem like too much of shock. Watford seem to be one of those teams who are forever hopping up and down from the Championship to the Premier League. Although I’m sure Claudio Ranieri will have different ideas for this season.
Watford could line up in something resembling a 4-4-1-1 given the injury to Ozan Tufan. We could see Joao Pedro coming in to play just behind Josh King in the number nine position. The four behind them will most likely be comprised of Moussa Sissoko and Tom Cleverly in the centre, with Emmanuel Dennis and Ismaila Sarr taking up the wings. And then a back four which should consist of Rose, Nkoulou, Cathcart and Femenía. With Ben Foster taking his place in goal. I’d expect them to try and play on the counter utilising the likes of Sarr down the right hand side.
Manchester United
It feels like we’ve been saying this about every game for ages now, but is this a must win game for Ole Gunnar Solskjær? It’s no secret that Ole has been under immense amounts of pressure lately. The constant media circus with this revolving door of managers being linked to the United job. The dreadful results and performances we have seen lately. All of this comes together to give a pretty bleak picture. What should be an ordinary run of the mill game against a bottom of the table team. Has now become something of crucial match for Ole.
Regardless of your opinion on whether or not the manager needs to go now or later or even not at all. The fact is this. Manchester United have to start winning football matches again. And other than maybe Newcastle or Norwich I don’t think we are going to get a better chance to do just that.
Line-up
Manchester United have a few injuries and absences at the moment and notable ones at that. Varane and Cavani are both out with injuries. Paul Pogba has one more match left on his suspension, although he could miss more games with an injury he picked up. Fred could be a doubt as well with his late return from international duty with Brazil.
That being said I think Ole will undoubtedly stick with his 4-2-3-1, especially when we consider the lack of centre-back options we have. And so reverting to the 3 at the back would seem highly unlikely. David de Gea will no doubt keep his place in net, despite some of his recent mistakes. With the Varane injury, I’d expect Maguire and Lindelof to make up the centre backs. With Aaron Wan-Bissaka on the right and Luke Shaw on the left. I wouldn’t mind seeing Alex Telles given a shout just because of how poor Shaw has been lately.
The midfield is as always where it gets a bit interesting, mainly because we don’t have that many good midfielders. I really wouldn’t be surprised to see Ole stick with McTominay and Fred, as much as that infuriates so many people online. On the other hand, I don’t know if this might be the game to try and see Donny van de Beek. Saying that, I really don’t expect to see him start. At the end of the day, why would Solskjær start now, a time when his job is under more pressure than it has ever been.
Ahead of the two, I think we are going to see Marcus Rashford do what he does best on the left hand side. With Bruno doing what he does in the number 10. And I think this could be the perfect game for Jadon Sancho. This could provide the perfect opportunity for him to prove to everyone exactly what he is capable of. And then of course, Cristiano Ronaldo will be starting up top.
With all that said, I fully expect a win from United. I’m hoping we can keep a clean sheet. Although, Watford do have some dangerous players such as Sarr. With that in mind I am going for a United 3-1 win. Hopefully, we can see Rashford and Ronaldo scoring goals and maybe even Jadon Sancho getting on the scoresheet.