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3-4-1-2: Man Utd predicted XI to face Spurs – debutant starts

Manchester United are in action at Wembley Stadium on Wednesday evening when we take on Tottenham Hotspur in the capital.

We are currently eight points ahead of Mauricio Pochettino’s side who sit in fifth position heading into the midweek fixture list.

Jose Mourinho has guided us to five wins from five to start 2018, keeping a clean sheet in each game to start the New Year.  The confidence in the camp is high as is our health – only Eric Bailly and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are currently sidelined.

Here is the starting XI I believe that will face Tottenham:

Goalkeeper: David de Gea

The Spaniard was given a rest on Friday as Sergio Romero took on the duties between the posts in the FA Cup.  David de Gea will start at Wembley and is on a run of four consecutive clean sheets in the Premier League since Boxing Day.

Defence: Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo

Jose gave Chris Smalling and Phil Jones a rest on Friday but the English centre-back partnership are set for a return to our starting XI midweek.  I think we’ll revert back to a back three as we used versus Tottenham when we beat them 1-0 at Old Trafford back in October.  Marcos Rojo should maintain his place in the starting lineup from the side that faced Yeovil last time out, with Victor Lindelof dropping to the bench.

Midfield: Antonio Valencia, Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic, Ashley Young

Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young were both rested for our FA Cup tie so will be fresh to start as the wingbacks in this game.  I believe Young will get the start ahead of Luke Shaw in this game as he put in a man of the match performance versus Spurs in our first meeting this season.  Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic are the central midfield partnership.  They will have the duty of keeping Dele Alli quiet who is the Tottenham number 10, as well as keeping an eye on Christian Eriksen when he cuts inside from the left.

Attack: Alexis Sanchez; Marcus Rashford, Romelu Lukaku

Juan Mata is the only player to have started our last two games so I think he’ll be handed a rest in this one.  Instead, Alexis Sanchez should slot in at the number 10 on his Premier League debut for us with Jesse Lingard among the substitutes.  Marcus Rashford and Romelu Lukaku have played together up front this season so I think the youngster will get to partner our top scorer for this one, particularly as both scored on Friday.  Anthony Martial will be pushing to start but could be used as an impact substitute, just as he was when he came off the bench to score the winner versus Tottenham at Old Trafford back in October.

Here is how we line up on paper:

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