Manchester United has the opportunity to close the gap with league leaders Chelsea when they travel to Stamford Bridge on Saturday, and are full of confidence following last weekend’s hammering of cross town rivals Manchester City 4-2 to earn their sixth league victory in a row.
Spanish midfielder Juan Mata will play his first match at Stamford Bridge since Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho sanctioned a £37.1 million sale to Manchester United back when David Moyes was in charge of the Red Devils.
Missing for the trip down to the smoke will be But Michael Carrick, Marcos Rojo, Phil Jones and Daley Blind who are all side-lined with injury while Jonny Evans is still suspended for the spitting incident with Newcastle’s Papiss Cisse.
Striker Robin van Persie is close to returning to the side but it is in defence where LVG has his problems.
Goalkeeper
A simple no brainer here with David De Gea probably the first player LVG pencils in on his team sheet each week. The Spaniard has been faultless all season leading him to being nominated for the PFA Player-of-the-year award.
Defence
If anything it is the defence that led to United’s poor start to the season, but they are much improved now boasting the third best defensive record in the league. However this weekend match is missing three vital players in Jones, Blind and Rojo, leaving the Dutchman the option of bringing in Paddy McNair to play alongside Chris Smalling with Luke Shaw returning at left-back.
Midfield
According to LVG Marouane Fellaini is un-droppable at the moment and will be given the task to make life difficult for John Terry and Nemanja Matic.
With Michael Carrick out we expect to see Ashley Young drop into a midfield role opening the door for Argentinian winger Angel Di Maria to return.
Mata meanwhile will relish going up against his former club, and is in top form having scored three goals with one assist in his last three outings.
Attack
Up-front will be Wayne Rooney as the sole United attack in the role he relishes most, which makes believe LVG was wrong to ponder to RVP and Falcao forcing Rooney to play behind the two strikers.
