There are some pundits, observers and supporters who believe that the best option for Manchester United in attack right now is the trio of Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard. Or at least that this selection triad is the option that has worked the best under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer thus far.
We’re in that camp; firmly. However, we didn’t go with that troika here in our starting XI prediction because we believe the club really needs to see what OGS can get out of his two big money attacking players, Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku. The former has been a total flop on the scoring front since he’s been at United although he has contributed some assists while the latter is finding himself on the bench more lately.
To truly test how viable Solskjaer is as a long term managerial candidate, the club needs to see what he can really do with those two attackers. Elsewhere, we felt Juan Mata should get a first team chance in this one after having been dropped at Tottenham.
The Bank MUFC Starting XI Prediction at Tottenham Hotspur (4-3-3)
Attack: Alexis Sanchez, Marcus Rashford, Romelu Lukaku
Midfielders: Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic, Juan Mata
Defenders: Luke Shaw, Victor Lindelof, Phil Jones, Ashley Young
Goalkeeper: David de Gea
Manchester United vs Brighton & Hove Albion FYIs
Kickoff: Saturday, January 19, 3:00 PM local, Old Trafford
Google Result Probability: Manchester United win 72%, Draw 19% Tottenham win 47%
Injury Report for both teams: go to this link
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Press Conference Video and Quotes: coming Friday
Odds via Bet Fair: Manchester United win 3/10, Draw 9/2, Brighton win 11/1
Prediction: United 3, Brighton 1
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.