Potential Manchester United XI vs Chelsea

Six wins in a row including crushing victories over Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester City, Manchester United fans are truly buzzing at the prospect of a trip to Stamford Bridge this Saturday.

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The dominance of Louis van Gaal’s 433 system with the sudden ‘click’ of the philosophy has seen the Reds go from a risky choice to secure a Top 4 spot to challenging for 2nd place in a matter of weeks. United have all but secured their participation in next season’s Champions League with their win over Manchester City last weekend the biggest result of their season so far.

It shows how far they’ve come but it also showed that previous victories and performances were not flukes. Jose Mourinho will know that now he must stop them. van Gaal will have a couple of decisions to make ahead of the game but generally, you’d expect the team to remain as stable as it can.

In goal, David De Gea will start. Undoubtedly the Manchester United Player of the Year for a second year in a row, his future still hangs in the balance but his love for the club is still as clear as day. His celebrations against Manchester City last weekend as each of the four goals went in show that he cares dearly for the club and if he can help boost United to even higher in the Premier League table he could well establish himself as a Manchester United legend.

At right-back, Antonio Valencia had his best game at right-back in a United shirt last week and after starting the last seven consecutive games there I’d be surprised if he didn’t make it eight. His pace and strength will come in good stead as he does battle with Eden Hazard but he’ll need all his experience to deal with the tricky winger come Saturday.

In central defence, Louis van Gaal opted to go with Chris Smalling and Phil Jones against City and it worked wonders. The defenders stayed compact and did their jobs expertly well throughout the game, despite Sergio Aguero’s two goals. I’d be surprised to see van Gaal change such a vital position for another big game after it worked so well last week and I expect both will start once again.

Left-back could see some changes however. With Michael Carrick forced off towards the end of the Manchester Derby with a calf injury last week, he is a doubt for the trip to Stamford Bridge. Daley Blind is the obvious replacement for him in defensive midfield, which means the left-back spot will be up for grabs once again. Luke Shaw and Marcos Rojo are both fit but Louis van Gaal revealed last week that the young Englishman “isn’t fit to play yet”. Although it’s a week later, the 19 year old didn’t play midweek for the Under 21’s as some stars have this season and thus it’s unlikely that he’ll come straight back into the team.

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With Daley Blind likely to move into the midfield, the rest of the team you’d expect to pick itself. On current form, the front five are simply undroppable and I expect it to remain that way going into the game at Stamford Bridge.

Ander Herrera and Marouane Fellaini have been absolutely key to the tempo, pressing and balance of the side in recent months and it’s no surprise that both men were influential in the win over Manchester City last weekend. While they were matched up last week with the duo of Yaya Toure and Fernandinho and dominated, coming up against Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic is a different test. While punditry duo Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher suggested last week on Monday Night Football that Mourinho could opt to use Fabregas further forward in order to put Kurt Zouma into midfield to combat Marouane Fellaini’s physicallity, it isn’t something to look past.

Ashley Young had his best performance for Manchester United last week, scoring the equaliser and creating goals for Fellaini and Chris Smalling during the 4-2 win at Old Trafford. While some were calling for Angel Di Maria to come into his place for that game, nobody is doing that now. He will start on the left once again and look to continue his fine form as the Reds look to push up to second place while Arsenal play in the FA Cup this weekend.

Juan Mata will be returning to his old stomping ground, in a fixture that he used to enjoy greatly while he was a Chelsea player. This will be his first trip to Stamford Bridge as a Manchester United player and he’ll be keen to show them what they’re missing as he looks to add to his four goals in his previous four games.

Up front, Wayne Rooney has proven that he is the man. After what seemed like a rather innocuous performance against Man City, the analysis from Gary Neville showed how effective Wayne Rooney was at keeping the two central defenders totally occupied throughout the game. Neville called it Rooney’s “most effecitve, ineffective performance” under Louis van Gaal and if he can do a similar job this weekend then Manchester United may have more chance of controlling the midfield battle once again. Robin van Persie is expected to make the bench at best but he most certainly won’t be fit enough to start the game, meaning Falcao will also likely be named on the bench with Adnan Januzaj and Angel Di Maria.

Credit: sharemytactics.com

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