United welcome Sean Dyche’s Everton to Old Trafford on Saturday for the weekend’s early kick-off.
It’s a good chance to put pressure on 5th-place Villa and 6th-place Spurs who play each other on Sunday, meaning one or both are certain to drop points. United sit six behind Spurs who have played one fewer game, so anything but a win against the Toffees is almost certainly going to spell the end of our Champions League ambitions for next season.
After a bit of a revival in the league, which saw 4 straight wins including 3 away from home, United have lost the last 2. One of these was expected – Manchester City, but the other was a very winnable fixture at Fulham. Sandwiched between those 2 games was a decent 1-0 away win against Forest in the FA Cup.
What does this all mean? It means that predicting what United will do in the league is very difficult. A multitude of lay-offs has dogged our season and this game will be no different.
Everton sit in 16th place and are the third-lowest goal-scorers in the league. This is a game United should win….but we still need to actually show up and win.
Manchester United team news
There is some good news in that Jonny Evans and Marcus Rashford are available after being brought off with knocks against Manchester City. Omari Forson is out of the squad with an unspecified injury.
Other than that it’s ‘as you were’ for United’s injury list:
Mason Mount (calf), Lisandro Martinez (knee), Luke Shaw (muscle), Aaron Wan-Bissaka (unspecified), Harry Maguire (unspecified), Rasmus Hojlund (unspecified), Tyrell Malacia (knee) and Anthony Martial (knee).
A lot of Reds (myself included) will be looking ahead to the huge FA Cup quarter-final against Liverpool next Sunday. There is some more good news: in his press conference for tomorrow’s game, Erik Ten Hag mentioned that Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Rasmus Hojlund should be fit for next week
manchester united predicted line-up
Antony starts on the right wing in our predicted XI
Everton Preview
Idrissa Gana Gueye is an injury doubt for Everton’s clash with Manchester United this weekend. Arnaut Danjuma will also be unavilable as he continues to recover from ankle ligament damage.
Dele Alli remains out with a long-term groin injury.
The Toffees had a boost recently when their ten-point FFP deduction was reduced to 6 – but they still in a relegation dogfight. They sit just 5 points above the dropzone and have played a game more then Luton Town in 18th.
Also – it isn’t Liverpool but they are still Scousers. Make no mistake about it – this is a massive fixture for both teams.
Form Guide
Manchester United Premier League form: LLWWWW
Manchester United (all competitions): LWLWWW
Everton Premier League form: LDDLDD
Everton form (all competitions): LDDLDD
Prediction
As we said earlier, it’s very difficult to predict which United will show up at the moment, especially given the unsettled squad with all the injuries and absences.
Having said that, Everton struggle to score goals and haven’t won on the road since mid-December – this is a game United should win comfortably. We’re making a prediction based on that logic, but don’t be too surprised if Everton end up with a result somehow. Look at the defeats to Bournemouth, Fulham, Galatasaray, and the narrow wins against Luton, Brentford and Copenhagen this season – Old Trafford has hardly been a fortress this season!
Prediction: United 2-0 Everton
