Manchester United return from Italy for the derby on Sunday as we take on Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
The Citizens started the weekend top of the Premier League and nine points ahead of us, coming off the back of a 6-1 thrashing of Southampton last weekend and a 6-0 demolition of Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday evening.
We’re in good form ourselves which includes three successive 2-1 wins, including the 2-1 win at Juventus midweek.
Here is how I think we’ll line up on Sunday:
Goalkeeper: David de Gea
Only forced into a couple of saves at Juventus, David de Gea can expect to be in for a much busier game this weekend as we take on one of the top attacks in the world.
Defence: Ashley Young, Chris Smalling, Victor Lindelof, Luke Shaw
Antonio Valencia isn’t expected to start having only just returned to training recently so we could line up with the same back four that held Juventus to just one goal midweek. Chris Smalling and Victor Lindelof are forming a decent partnership in the middle despite only keeping one clean sheet in the Premier League this season. Luke Shaw is having a good season on the left and could find space down the wing when bombing forward against Kyle Walker and Riyad Mahrez.
Midfield: Nemanja Matic, Ander Herrera, Paul Pogba
Manchester City are expected to see the majority of possession so we’ll need a disciplined performance from our midfield three in preventing the supply to their attack. Paul Pogba didn’t train on Friday but we’ll expect him to start on Sunday despite a quiet showing in Italy. Ander Herrera will put in a battling performance to try stopping the likes of David Silva and Bernardo Silva running the show, whilst Nemanja Matic sits in front of the back four trying to cut out the balls to Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling and co.
Attack: Marcus Rashford, Alexis Sanchez, Anthony Martial
Romelu Lukaku is a doubt having stayed behind for our trip to Juventus midweek and I think the pace of this trio will be our best option on the counter attack tomorrow. Alexis Sanchez works hard off the ball so don’t be surprised if the Chilean sits more defensively than an out-and-out striker usually would.
Here’s how our team looks on paper:
