Manchester United could be without as many as three of their top central midfielders for their huge clash at Arsenal on Saturday. United Manager Jose Mourinho switched to a three-man midfield in the 4-2 victory at Watford on Tuesday night, with Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard advancing ahead of the team’s anchor, Nemanja Matic, who left injured in the 54′.
Mourinho went with a 3-5-2 formation, that saw Lingard in the central role, instead of in his usual role out on the wing.
However, it does not seem like Mourinho will have the healthy bodies available to go with a three man midfield this weekend.
Captain Michael Carrick continues to recover from his heart condition, while Marouane Fellaini was out injured for the midweek clash. Both are doubts for this match, as is Matic, who has an injury that is muscular in nature, Mourinho inferred.
For the full injury report on both sides go to this link.
Without further ado, here is the MUFC starting XI prediction for this match (4-2-3-1)
Romelu Lukaku
Anthony Martial Juan Mata Marcus Rashford
Ander Herrera Paul Pogba
Ashley Young Marcos Rojo Chris Smalling Antonio Valencia
David de Gea
We also constructed a combined XI of the two teams, which you can view over at this link.
One major key to this game will be Gunners midfielder Mesut Ozil, and what United do to stop/contain him. The much maligned superstar has recently regained better form, and that’s due to the German finding his fight again, says Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.
Arsenal are favored in the late afternoon/early Saturday evening kickoff by the ever so slightest of margins.
The bookies are showing the Gunners at 8/5 to win, 12/5 for a draw, and Manchester United at 83/41. That’s just about a pick’em there. We’ll have video of the two manager press conferences for you tomorrow.
Prediction: Arsenal 0, United 0
As always, feel free to post your own MUFC and/or Arsenal starting XI (and match final score) predictions in the comments section.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune corporation blogging community Chicago Now.
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