Manchester United travel to Huish Park for their FA Cup fourth round fixture against Yeovil Town
Manchester United will look to advance in the FA Cup, when they take on League Two side Yeovil Town, in the fourth round, on Friday night.
The match comes just in the aftermath of Manchester United clinching the signature of Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal and manager Jose Mourinho extending his contract with the club until the summer of 2020. And the club would be keen on signing off what has been a brilliant week, with a resounding win.
Coming into the game, United don’t have any major injury concerns as such, apart from the absence of centre-back Eric Bailly and star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Club captain and veteran midfielder
Michael Carrick is back in training, but is unlikely to be thrust into action, while Daley Blind is also likely to sit this one out, owing to a muscle injury he picked up last week.
Mourinho, in his pre-match press conference, confirmed that he will be resting a few important players for the game, while still looking to name a strong starting XI.
“We are going to rest a couple of players; we also have a couple of problems that we want to try to resolve, with problems for the next matches in February in the Premier League and also Champions League. But it will be a very strong team.”
As has been the case for the cup competitions, Mourinho will hand Sergio Romero a start between the sticks, with No.1 goalkeeper David De Gea set to be rested. The 30-year old has performed decently each time he has been called upon, having kept three clean sheets in six appearances across all competitions and would want to add another to his tally.
In defence, United could ring in the changes, affording some rest to a number of regular starters. That would mean, Matteo Darmian could be in for a rare start at right-back, while Luke Shaw is likely to come in on the opposite side, in place of Ashley Young.
Mourinho could also look to leave out his first-choice centre-back pairing of Phil Jones and Chris Smalling, and hand starts to summer signing Victor Lindelof and Argentine Marcos Rojo, both of whom haven’t played much in recent weeks.
Paul Pogba has started eight games in a row in all competitions since the festive period last year and could earn a well-deserved rest with Ander Herrera likely to replace the Frenchman. And Pogba’s midfield partner Nemanja Matic too has played relentlessly and could do with a break, meaning Marouane Fellaini could be in for a starting berth.
With a Premier League fixture against Tottenham Hotspur lined up after the FA Cup clash, Mourinho could be tempted to preserve the in-form duo of Anthony Martial and Romelu Lukaku. However, the Portuguese did confirm that new signing Alexis Sanchez will be a part of the squad and he may very well be named in the starting XI, on the left-flank.
Jesse Lingard has been United’s go-to man in cup games of late and he is likely to continue in the No.10 role, while Juan Mata, who is the most likely to be left out against Spurs, should occupy the right wing.
Leading the line for the 12-time FA Cup winners will be academy graduate Marcus Rashford. The 20-year old has gone on a run of 10 games without a goal in all competitions and would be intent on ending the drought against the Glovers.
