The Red Devils play host to the Villans in Monday night’s third round clash live on BBC One as Steven Gerrard prepares to heap further pressure on United interim manager Ralf Rangnick.
United were handed their first defeat under Rangnick last Monday against Wolves through a late Joao Moutinho strike and an early cup departure would cement further gloom amongst the United faithful.
Gerrard had enjoyed an emphatic start to his Villa reign with three wins in his first four matches, but defeats to big boys Liverpool and Chelsea as well as newly promoted Brentford has seen just one win in their last four, against basement dwellers Norwich City.
The third round match will see the winner host Chris Wilder’s Middlesbrough in the fourth round of the FA Cup. He has orchestrated a jump from 14th to seventh in the Championship after just eight matches since the departure of ex-manager Neil Warnock.
Last time out
Both dugouts looked vastly different when Dean Smith’s Villa ran out 1-0 winners against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United last September, their first away league win of this season.
There were just two minutes remaining of the 90 when hero Kortney Hause headed the away side in front, but he quickly turned villain when he handled the ball in the box and gave trusted United penalty taker Bruno Fernandes the chance to equalise three minutes into stoppage time.
The Portuguese international perhaps let the pressure get to him as he blasted over the bar in what was an uncharacterised miss.
Both teams will make changes this evening but Villa manager Gerrard has stated to the Birmingham Mail, “we’ll go there with the strongest possible team that we’ve got available to try and get the best result we can.”
With an increasingly busy fixture schedule in mind, Rangnick will be expected to rest multiple stars while hoping fringe players can get the job done and worm their way into his thinking for league matches.
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Manchester United
Goalkeeper Dean Henderson has been the go-to man in cup competitions and could start ahead of David de Gea, while Phil Jones could keep his spot at centre half having been reintroduced to the squad against Wolves.
It is expected that he will be partnered by Victor Lindelof, who could replace Raphael Varane to make his first appearance in a month after suffering with Coronavirus.
Luke Shaw could potentially retain his place in the side at left-back over Alex Telles given he won’t feature when United play villa in the league next Saturday due to suspension, but Diogo Dalot will likely replace Aaron Wan-Bissaka on the other flank.
Fred will be hopeful of a return to midfield in place of Nemanja Matic whilst Donny Van de Beek and Jesse Lingard could feature.
Bruno Fernandes is set for a chance to redeem himself from the missed penalty against Villa earlier in the season, as he looks to get more minutes under his belt having featured for just 30 minutes against Wolves.
Cristiano Ronaldo is unlikely to feature from the start, which means Rangnick could go with two from Mason Greenwood, Marcus Rashford, Edinson Cavani and Anthony Martial, but uncertainty on the future of the latter could see him out of action.
Aston Villa
The game will likely come too soon for new signing Phillipe Coutinho who has just joined on loan from Barcelona, whilst Bertrand Traore and Trezequet are away on international duty at AFCON.
Backup goalkeeper Jed Steer could start over Emi Martinez for just his fourth appearance of the season.
Ashley Young should be over a toe issue and could start on his return to Old Trafford having played for United between 2011-2020, alongside a back line of Matty Cash, Ezri Konza and Tyrone Mings who returns from injury.
It’s a similar story to Luke Shaw for John McGinn, with the Scottish midfielder suspended for the league meeting on Saturday, so he may get the nod to start in this one. It is most likely he will be backed up by Jacob Ramsey and Douglas Luiz to make up the midfield three.
Ollie Watkins will be available having missed their last game, a 2-1 defeat to Brentford, through injury, and could be supported by Emi Buendia on the other wing and Danny Ings up top.
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