Saturday will see the Red Devils make their
way to Craven Cottage in what is a very hard
to predict game. Fulham have started the
season with somewhat mixed performances
and will hope to hope to cause the
occasionally faltering Manchester United
problems. David Moyes on the hand is hoping
to build on what is now three successive wins,
“We were a little but up and down at the start
of the season – winning one, losing one – so
we are hoping to get more consistency and for
form follows that. ” With momentum gathering
from wins against Sociedad, Stoke and then
Norwich during the week it would appear that
United may be finding their winning form
again.
Moyes will likely make huge changes from the
midweek Capital One cup match
againstNorwich, David De Gea should return to
the side along with Patrice Evra. Rafael
should retain his position from the Norwich
game, Smalling and Valencia have both been
favoured recently but with
Rafael growing ever stronger and more
impressive after his return from injury he
should get the nod on Saturday. The centre of
the defence has seen the starting spots
passed around like a game of hot potato in
the past few weeks with Evans, Jones,
Smalling, Vidic and Ferdinand all having
started. Ferdinand and Vidic return to action
during the week and performed well, albeit
under little pressure from Norwich. I would
hope that Moyes will persist with the
partnership of Evans and Jones in the centre
of defence however as he attempts to develop
a new centre back partnership that can be
relied upon in the coming years.
On Tuesday night the United central midfield
consisted of Cleverley and Jones but with this
being a league match I would expect the
return of the Michael Carrick to the team.
Moyes has said, “Michael Carrick has got a bit
of a problem with his calf and Achilles. But we
don’t think he’s too bad.” If Carrick can play
through this then he probably will as Moyes
hopes to keep the momentum going, if on the
other hand he can’t play then it leaves the
manager with a big problem. Fellaini should
make a return to the starting lineup after
being absent since the 1-1 draw with
Southampton. Cleverley, Giggs and Kagawa
are all in contention but it would seem
unlikely that any will force a fit Fellaini or
Carrick out of the starting eleven.
I hope the right side of the midfield sees the
return of Nani, his performance last weekend
against Stoke received an ovation of boos as
the winger left the field but it is worth
remembering that it was his cross that
provided Rooney with the header that resulted
in the Robin Van Persie goal. It is also worth
remembering that Nani has always been a
player that frustrates fans to no end but has
the ability to perform something amazing and
score a goal out of nothing. His performances
need to improve if he is to hold onto a
starting position but with the options
available to Moyes at the minute on the right
of midfield it seems harsh to brandish Nani
“not good enough”. The left side of the United
midfield could see Kagawa, Young or Januzaj
get a start. After another strong performance
from Januzaj against Norwich this could be
another great opportunity for the young
midfielder to highlight his potential to the
footballing public. My guess is that he may be
rested for this game and we could see Kagawa
return to the team, the creative midfielder has
produced improving performances in recent
weeks and seems to have firmly put himself in
the managers mind. He is still far from the
player that signed for United from Dortmund
two years ago but is much improved from his
early season performances. Young worked
hard on Tuesday night to stake a claim on the
starting position but with consistently dismal
crosses from promising positions I can’t see
Moyes taking a punt on Ashley.
Chicharito has been in great form scoring
three goals in two games but is likely to still
be on the bench on Saturday. This is
something that will always be the case when
the other two striking options are Van Persie
and Rooney. Both scored last weekend against
Stoke and with Rooney in such an amazing
form it really would be strange to see anyone
other than the two United powerhouses start.
Predicted Manchester United XI:
De Gea
Rafael Jones Evans Evra
Nani Carrick Fellaini Kagawa
Rooney
Van Persie
A fourth win on the trot will go a long way to
silencing the #MoyesOut brigade and should
help United climb further up the league and
closer to the summit of the Premier League.
What would be your starting XI against
Fulham? Comment in the section below.
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