United’s league campaign rolls on with a trip to Villa park on Sunday afternoon, for a match that the Reds surely must win to have a chance at sneaking into the top 4 and guaranteed Champions League qualification.
United come into the game in strong form, having won our last 3 games in all competitions, including a 3-0 thrashing of West Ham last weekend, which produced arguably our best performance of the season.
The Villains come into the game in mixed form, having won only 1 of the last 5 in all competitions.
There was great optimism around Old Trafford after our last outing against West Ham. We dominated the game, created plenty of chances and our youth players were the stand-out performers.
Aston Villa – who currently occupy the last Champions League spot – away is the perfect test of whether that was a flash-in-the-pan performance or a true turning point. Another dominant performance and win tomorrow would really send a message that United have turned a corner.
manchester united team news
The only real negative from the last game was the Lisandro Martinez injury. Whilst Harry Maguire had performed well in the first part of the season, Licha is a player that an not only break up play, but start attacks with his passing through the lines, and United look much more resistant to getting pressed high up the pitch when he is in the team. He looks to be out for a couple of months.
Marcus Rashford has performed better and looked more interested in the past few weeks. There have been no MOTM performances, but a couple of goals and marked improvement on his first half of the season is positive, and we expect him to start tomorrow.
We will be without the services of Mason Mount (calf), Anthony Martial, (groin), Tyrell Malacia (knee) and Aaron Wan-Bissaka looks unlikely to be available.
mancester united predicted lineup
Onana;
Dalot, Varane, Martinez, Shaw;
Mainoo, Casemiro; Fernandes;
Garnacho, Hojlund, Rashford;
opposition preview
Aston Villa have massively over-achieved this season under the talented Unai Emery. What looked to be perhaps be a fluke earlier on is now looking more like a serious top-4 challenge.
Having said that, there recent form has taken a slight dip; crashing out of the FA Cup to Chelsea last week and faltering slightly in the league. With only the League to focus on and United in town, this is a game Villa will be right up for, and the fans and manager will expect a reaction after the FA Cup disappointment.
There is a boost for Aston Villa with Spanish defender Pau Torres set to be available. Nicolo Zaniolo returns from injury too.
Villa will be without Ezri Konsa, Lucas Digne, Tyrone Mings and Emi Buendia.
form guide
Aston Villa Premier League form: DLWDLW
Aston Villa all competitions: WDDLWL
United Premier League form: LWLDWW
United all competitions: LWDWWW
prediction
United are the in-form team here and have a strong line-up to choose from. We are rightly on a high after the excellent West Ham performance, and need to build on this to make a real challenge for those top 4 spots. A defeat tomorrow would feel like a big setback and it would be a long way back to the top 4, given our tough upcoming fixtures, which include City, Chelsea and Liverpool.
Having said that, we expect Ten hag to get it right, and we trust in the quality within the team, so are going for a hard-fought win, whereas the lads in the studio were a bit more pessimistic (or maybe realistic!)
Prediction: Villa 1-2 United
