Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is expected to ring in the changes to the side that defeated Yeovil Town in the FA Cup over the weekend
Manchester United will travel to Wembley, as they gear up to take on Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League, on Wednesday night. The Red Devils have been in great form since the turn of the year and have maintained a perfect record in 2018.
Coming into the game on the back of a 4-0 win over Yeovil Town in the FA Cup, the confidence will be high and manager Jose Mourinho will be hoping to carry the momentum against Spurs and get all three points.
The manager confirmed in his pre-match interview that there are no fresh injury concerns for United, meaning it will be just striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and defender Eric Bailly that are ruled out.
“We have no more injuries,” Mourinho said. “It was a tough match at Yeovil, a difficult match, difficult conditions, but everything is good.”
David De Gea will definitely replace Sergio Romero between the sticks for the Wembley trip, with Mourinho likely to recall a number of rested first-team players on Wednesday.
The entire back-line that played against Yeovil on Friday should be revamped, with Valencia, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling and Young all in line for a start. The quartet will replace Matteo Darmian, Victor Lindelof, Marcos Rojo and Luke Shaw, respectively.
Club captain Michael Carrick, who made his much-awaited return to the starting XI in the cup game, following a lengthy spell on the sidelines due to a heart condition, should also be a part of the matchday squad, but will have to make do with a role on the bench.
Carrick’s midfield partner, Marouane Fellaini, whose future is shrouded under a cloud of doubt, will also return to the squad, but should find himself on bench duties as Mourinho would most likely go in with the midfield duo of Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba. Matic hasn’t been in the best of forms of late, but the rest over the weekend will have done him good.
In the attacking half of the pitch, there is a problem of plenty for Mourinho, following the acquisition of Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal. The Chilean had an impressive debut against Yeovil and will be competing with the likes of Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Juan Mata for a starting spot against Spurs.
Jesse Lingard is a certainty to start in the No.10 role, as he continued his impressive goalscoring form with another stunning strike against Yeovil. Anthony Martial, who scored the winner against Tottenham last time around, has been in good form and should start on his preferred left-flank.
Alexis is most likely to make his Premier League debut for United and could find himself starting on the right wing, a position he has done well in the past during his days with Udinese and Barcelona. And that would mean Juan Mata drops out.
Rashford started the cup tie as the lone striker and had a good game, but Mourinho is likely to call back his premier marksman Romelu Lukaku for the big game against Tottenham on Wednesday.
