Manchester United will make a short trip to the Etihad Stadium to take on their bitter rivals, Manchester City on Sunday. The Red Devils are in fine form at the moment and come into this game after earning an unexpected victory at Juventus in midweek.
Jose Mourinho is likely to go for a 4-3-3 formation and might bring back both Fred and Juan Mata into his starting XI. However, Diogo Dalot and Antonio Valencia are ruled out of this game due to injuries, but Romelu Lukaku would be in a race against time to be fit for this match.
4-3-3 Manchester United Predicted Lineup To Face Manchester City
Defence
Mourinho will call upon the services of David De Gea once again as his primary goalkeeper for this match against the Citizens this weekend which follows his heroics against Juventus in midweek that helped United come away with maximum points from Turin. Despite failing to keep a clean sheet, the Spanish keeper produced a majestic display in goal which would give him a lot of confidence going into this crucial derby at the Etihad Stadium.
The defensive duo of Chris Smalling and Victor Lindelof has worked well together, so they will continue to feature as the centre-backs in Mourinho’s first-team.
Ashley Young will fill in as a makeshift right-back while Luke Shaw looks to put on an impressive display on the left-hand side of the United backline. The Mancunian giants seem to have gotten their mojo back after they won three consecutive games across all competitions with a 2-1 scoreline.
Midfield
Mourinho might opt to start with three midfielders versus City to try and stop their rivals from dictating play at the middle of the pitch. So we can expect the trio of Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic and Fred to line up in midfield for the Reds of Manchester as they hope to stifle the City midfield and look to hit them on the counter.
Attack
The talented trio of Anthony Martial, Alexis Sanchez and Juan Mata could be unleashed up top. Both Martial and Mata have enjoyed a rich vein of form in recent weeks but Sanchez, on the other hand, is struggling to find confidence which explains his poor goal-scoring record this term.
Romelu Lukaku is a significant doubt for this contest and could be available on the bench if he recovers in time for the game.
