After a solid win over Manchester City in the midweek, Jose Mourinho will look to wipe clear the air of frustration blowing in at Old Trafford among their fans when they host Burnley in the Premier league this weekend.
After their 4-0 humiliation last week at the hands of Chelsea, a derby win was absolutely important for Mourinho’s men and they were lucky to have a quick schedule and a weakened City team to mend their mistake from the last Premier League game.
Manchester United are currently in the 7th place with 14 points in their opening 9 games. They have had an erratic season so far with wins coming on rare occasions. Burnley are at the 14th position with just 10 points in their opening 9 games.
At home, Manchester United doesn’t have a great start judging by the numbers, winning only 2 games and drawing 1 out of the 4 games played. Burnley have been absolutely terrible at away games failing to get even a single point in their 3 games this season.
Defence
Jose Mourinho is already without Phil Jones and Eric Bailly at the back. However, inspiring performances from Marcos Rojo and Daley Blind in the midweek have surely helped Mourinho find an escape from the dilemma.
With Luke Shaw returning back to the squad, the problem of the left back has been solved. Blind have been quite nervy in that position. In the right defensive flank, we expect Mourinho to start with Valencia.
Midfield
With Mata showing in the midweek just what the Spaniard brings to the game, Mourinho should place the player up front just behind the striker. Mourinho has plenty of options in the midfield with all of them available. Ander Herrera has been putting in a string of impressive performances in the last few matches and Mourinho is expected to stick with him.
Marouane Fellaini has also been productive in the holding midfield position but the Belgian is walking on thin ice with 4 yellow cards this season. Risking it in the first half might not be very wise and Paul Pogba, despite being unproductive in bagging goals, has been quite a physical presence in the middle.
Attack
Mata will be flanked by Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard, given that Mourinho has been quite reluctant in using their star attacker Henrikh Mkhitaryan. With the return of Memphis Depay, Mourinho has no fear of exhaustion at the moment. Marcus Rashford suffered a slight setback after a knock that forced Mourinho to sub him in EFL Cup.
Up front Zlatan Ibrahimović is expected to start. Although the Swede has lacked sharpness this season, it was his witty play that brought Mata’s goal against City in the midweek.
