Manchester United head to Valencia in midweek for a UEFA Champions League group stage fixture that provides manager Jose Mourinho an opportunity to rotate his squad. With knockout round qualification already secured, and one eye on the massive league clash against Liverpool next weekend, Mourinho will rest some of his regulars.
That will give the Red Devils a decided advantage in the arch-rivalry game next weekend, as Liverpool face a must win UCL match at Anfield tomorrow night. Getting back to United, Mourinho has pretty much already named three starters for the European fixture in Spain.
“We need to rest players,” Mourinho said to club publication MUTV.
“These last two matches Arsenal and today, today was really strong. We go to Valencia, there are some that need to rest, some need to play. A question of trust and a question of justice too.
“So if I say [Sergio] Romero plays, or he deserves to play, if I say a kid that is working like a tiger and is not playing much like Andreas Pereira is going to have a start, I’m going to make changes in the team because we have qualified.”
So there you go- pencil in Pereira and Romero. Also, slot in Paul Pogba, who has been dropped altogether lately. In explaining his rationale (that Pogba is not on board with the rest of the team mentality), Mourinho gave the indication that the Frenchman will be returning to the first team in midweek.
“Paul can be a fantastic player, he has the potential to be a fantastic player,” said Mourinho.
“Against Valencia he is going to start and have a fantastic football game to play and to show everybody how good he is.”
The Bank MUFC Starting XI Prediction vs Valencia in UCL (4-3-3)
Attack: Marcus Rashford, Romelu Lukaku, Juan Mata
Midfielders: Paul Pogba, Scott McTominay, Andreas Pereira
Defenders: Ashley Young, Marcos Rojo, Eric Bailly, Diogo Dalot
Goalkeeper: Sergio Romero
Valencia vs Manchester United FYIs
Kick-off: 8pm (BST), Wednesday December 11th, Mestalla
Google Result Probability: Valencia Win 38%, Draw 29%, Manchester United Win 33%
Odds via Betfair: United win 2/1, draw 12/5, Valencia win 15/2
United Injury Report: go to this link
Prediction: United 1, Valencia 1
Feel free to post your own starting XI predictions, as well as your best guess as to what the final score will be.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.
