Manchester United host Manchester City in the final game of this weekend’s Premier League action.
We have the opportunity to close the gap to five points with victory whilst knowing that the title race would be all but over with defeat.
Jose Mourinho confirmed earlier in the week that Eric Bailly and Michael Carrick are ruled out, whilst Paul Pogba is suspended. Pep Guardiola tried playing mind games in claiming that David Silva may not be fit for this one but no one was buying it.
The two lineups have been confirmed as:
Manchester United
David de Gea; Antonio Valencia, Chris Smalling, Marcos Rojo, Ashley Young; Nemanja Matic, Ander Herrera; Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Anthony Martial; Romelu Lukaku
Substitutes: Sergio Romero, Victor Lindelof, Phil Jones, Luke Shaw, Scott McTominay, Juan Mata, Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Jose has switched back to a 4-2-3-1 formation with Marcos Rojo partnering Chris Smalling in the centre of defence as Victor Lindelof drops to the bench. The Swede is joined by the returning Phil Jones. Zlatan Ibrahimovic also returns to take his place among the substitutes.
The boss has gone with both Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial in the starting lineup, down the wings, with Jesse Lingard in the number 10 role, offering us great pace on the counter attack. Juan Mata is on the bench.
Manchester City
Ederson; Kyle Walker, Nicolas Otamendi, Vincent Kompany, Fabian Delph; Fernandinho; Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva; Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus, Leroy Sane
Substitutes: Claudio Bravo, Zinchenko, Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Eliaquim Mangala, Danilo, Sergio Aguero
The only difference between Pep Guardiola’s starting XI and the one we predicted on Friday is that Gabriel Jesus starts ahead of Sergio Aguero, otherwise no surprises.
There’s potential to get at Fabian Delph down City’s left with the pace of Marcus Rashford attacking the centre midfielder-come-left-back. On the opposite flank Kyle Walker loves to bomb forward so Anthony Martial may find space at times too.
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