Everton vs Manchester United Preview

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After dropping six points in one week, we travel to Merseyside to pay a visit to Everton. This has been a rather disappointing festive period as we find ourselves in third place, a point behind Chelsea. However, during Manchester City's draw against Crystal Palace, Gabriel Jesus and Kevin De Bruyne suffered long term injuries. This may slow down their incredible run of form, but overcoming 15 points, is a tough ask. 

We put ourselves into this quagmire with unnecessary losses and now we face the consequences. Anyway, onto our next game, that is Everton. We go to Goodison Park where a new man in charge has changed the entire dynamics of their season. A previously weak and incompetent Everton side are now up for a fight and seem more intimidating now. 

The players and the system is more or less the game but newer and fresher ideas have sprung life into this side. Despite conceding plenty of goals, Pickford has prevented the scoreline from getting embarrassing. He is one of the best keepers in the league and has been doing pretty well there. In defence, they are likely to play a back 4 of Jonjoe Kenny, Michael Keane, Phil Jagielka and Cuco Martina. This defence is not a one to be very wary of, but a slight caution needs to be exuded.

In midfield, star man Ross Barkley is still out injured but Yannick Bolasie seems to be back. Former United man, Morgan Schneiderlin is expected to partner Idrissa Gana Gueye in the heart of midfield, with two of Tom Davies, Aaron Lennon, James McCarthy and Gylfi Sigurdsson in front of them. 

Up front, without a doubt it has to be Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney and youngster Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Their attack is very demanding and with a set piece specialist like Sigurdsson, they will look to punish us with the dead ball. Let us move on to our lineup, without further ado. 
      
After a really poor display and long injury list, I expect a lot of changes. My last time's line up prediction was completely correct, no applause please. So here I go again.

In defence, Ashley Young has been suspended for three games for elbowing Tadic in the stomach. So begrudgingly, we will have to reintroduce Darmian. However, I would love to see Tuanzebe playing there. There are multiple things that can be done. First, play Darmian. Second, play Tuanzebe with a Lindelof and Jones pairing. Or, play Lindelof at right back with a Rojo and Jones pairing. Knowing Jose, we is most likely to play the third combination. On a slightly related note, we should recall Fosu-Mensah from loan.

In midfield, I don't see anything changing because of the lack of options that we have. I really wanted us to play a 3-5-2 but with Young's suspension, we will be without a decent right back in that position. So my next favourite set up would be a 4-3-3 which will Pogba more space and freedom to do his thing. 

Up front, despite Martial and Rashford's poor run of form, we need to play them up front because of Lukaku and Zlatan's injury. These two youngsters really need to up their game and end their dry spell. Failing which, we could be in deeper trouble. Chelsea face Arsenal and we need to grab three points in the hope that they slip up. 

Predicted Lineup: De Gea; Lindelof, Rojo, Jones, Shaw; Matic, Pogba, Mata; Martial, Rashford, Lingard

Predicted Score: 2-1 to United. 

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