Manchester United resume their FA Cup campaign this weekend when they host Brighton & Hove Albion in a Saturday afternoon matinee. United enter quarterfinal clash looking to rebound quickly and make a bold, loud statement, so expect United manager Jose Mourinho to field a very strong team.
Fresh off a miserable performance that saw them dropped out of the UEFA Champions League, the Red Devils will look to regain some positive momentum before the international break sets in. The last thing they want is to get eliminated from two tournaments, in back-to-back outings, and then have that awful taste lingering in their mouths for a fortnight.
United are yet to concede a goal in their FA Cup campaign so far, but at the same time they haven’t really faced the fiercest of competition (Derby County, Yeovil Town and Huddersfield Town) thus far.
They will have to approach the match-up with the Seagulls with a sense of urgency, as this tournament is their last chance to win any silverware in 2017-18. In both of the cup eliminations that United have suffered this season, they entered as big favorites. In other words, they will be on guard against getting upset again (or at least they should be).
Without further ado, here is our MUFC starting XI prediction (4-3-3)
Alexis Sanchez Romelu Lukaku Juan Mata
Paul Pogba Nemanja Matic Juan Mata
Ashley Young Eric Bailly Chris Smalling Antonio Valencia
David de Gea
Odds: Man Utd 1/3, draw 4/1, Brighton 9/1
Match injury/fitness report: go to this link
Mourinho press conference: go to this link
Prediction: United 2, Brighton 0
As always feel free to post your own MUFC starting XI and match score predictions in the comments section below.
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 company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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