Manchester United host struggling Sunderland on Saturday afternoon with both sides needing points – but for entirely different reasons.
United come into the game sitting in second place in the Premier League, two points behind bitter rivals City, who have 15 points. A win against Sunderland at Old Trafford could see United leapfrog City into first place – if the noisy neighbours drop points against Tottenham Hotspur in the 12:45 kick off.
Sunderland meanwhile are stuck at the bottom of the pile; finding themselves in 20th place with just two points from six games, having conceded 13 goals. A win against United could lift them out of the relegation zone depending on results elsewhere, whilst a loss would likely see them remain bottom, unless Newcastle United also lose – and by more goals.
With the stakes already high so early on in the season, here are three things to look out for on Saturday afternoon…
1) The return of a rampant Rooney?
Rooney re-opened his goal-scoring account for the season by tucking away United’s first of three goals against Ipswich Town on Wednesday in the Capital One Cup – a competition he hadn’t scored in since 2010.
With that goal under his belt, he’ll be looking to increase his Premier League tally, and bottom of the league Sunderland are the perfect prey for him to go for. He will likely be used in an attacking midfield role against the Black Cats, but he thrives in the number #10 slot so expect a big performance from our captain.
2) The left side of our defence
I think it’s fair to say that United fans as a collective would rather not see a centre-back and left-back pairing of Daley Blind and Marcos Rojo, which was nothing short of a disaster against Southampton last weekend. There were spells where Blind partnered Smalling at centre-back and spells where Rojo slotted into that area with Blind out wide. Neither were effective.
The back four this weekend will be different, however, as Rojo and McNair are both doubts for the game through injury. Phil Jones made his comeback appearance against Ipswich Town, having spent time on the sidelines with thrombosis. The options for the defence are as follows:
Valencia-Smalling-Blind-Darmian
Darmian-Smalling-Blind-Young
Darmian-Smalling-Jones-Blind
Darmian can play at left-back so there is an option to play him there in Shaw’s absence – however I feel that it would make more sense to deploy Ashley Young there, as he’s a bit more accustomed to the role. I’m not convinced that it would be a good idea to throw Jones straight into the back four as it would be best to keep the strong Smalling-Blind partnership going – but watch this space!
3) Anthony Martial
Was it going to be anyone else? Two starts, two substitute appearances – 4 goals. The 19-year-old is defying even the highest expectations and setting Manchester and the Premier League alight. If the young Frenchman scores against Sunderland, he will be the first Manchester United player in history to score at least one goal in all of his first three Premier League games. He’s propelling himself to stardom at speed, and has ice running through his veins.
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