Manchester United’s push for a top 4 finish in the Premier League took a major hit this past weekend with the loss to Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City’s win over West Brom.
Furthermore, United must now turn their attention back to FA Cup play when they travel to West Ham, which should be a tough match for Louis van Gaal’s men. The Red Devils had their chance to advance to the semifinals when they hosted the Hammers back on March 13th, however, a draw after 90 minutes was the result and now they find themselves in London.
West Ham are coming off a strong showing against Arsenal where they took the Gunners best punch and put three goals past them in the process.
Here is the strongest possible Manchester United Lineup against West Ham –
Goalkeeper
David de Gea has been playing excellently for much of the season and van Gaal will certainly turn to him to help shore up the back of the United defence. The Spaniard will hope that his defence will not let him down as they had in the loss to the Spurs over the weekend.
Defence
Manchester United had one of their worst collapses of the season defensively when they had let three goals past de Gea in a matter of 6 minutes. Daley Blind and Chris Smalling will be starting at the heart of the backline as they had against Spurs but they must improve on their performance, especially Smalling.
With an injury to Timothy Fosu-Mensah and a poor showing by his replacement, Matteo Darmian, the right back is set to be occupied by Antonio Valencia. Ashley Young was brought on at halftime to play striker of all positions, but the versatile winger may find himself filling in at left back while Marcus Rojo makes his way back to the bench after an unsuccessful showing at White Hart Lane.
Midfield
Michael Carrick and Morgan Schneiderlin failed to stamp their authority on the match against Spurs but with a lack of defensive midfielders available for van Gaal, we could see the duo once again in front of the back four. With his diminishing ability to boss games in midfield, we may be seeing the very end of Carrick’s time at Old Trafford.
Ander Herrera will make his return to the starting XI and replace the ineffective Jesse Lingard in the central attacking midfield role while being joined by Anthony Martial on his left and Juan Mata on his right. The Spaniard has been left out of the side recently but his creativity in the No.10 role should be an upgrade over Lingard, who struggled against the Spurs.
Attack
After playing wonderfully against Manchester City a few weeks ago, Marcus Rashford looked a bit off against the Spurs, struggling against a tough defence.
With questions on whether Wayne Rooney will be ready to come back after his 60 minute run in the Under 21’s, Rashford will get the start but we may see Rooney make his comeback in the second half if the young Englishman struggles or Ashley Young….
(4-2-3-1)
Via – Lineup Builder
