Paul Pogba ended his Manchester United drought and deepened Aston Villa’s relegation woes on Thursday.
The Red Devils romped to a 3-0 win over Dean Smith’s side at Villa Park, partly inspired by Bruno Fernandes, who opened the scoring after winning a penalty at the expense of Ezri Konsa.
Mason Greenwood and Pogba added the extras in their own fashion, meaning Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side maintained their unbeaten run extending to 17 games in all competitions.
Solskjaer named an unchanged starting lineup to the team that thumped Bournemouth and United controlled the contest, leaving Villa second bottom, four points away from safety with as many games remaining.
Fifth place in the Premier League could be enough to secure a spot in the Champions League, if Manchester City’s ban is upheld, but Solskjaer will be looking to make a statement against Southampton.
Transfer Tavern worked on a predicted starting lineup, which sees Solskjaer make two changes to the side that humiliated Villa in their own home.
United seem to be on an upward trajectory ever since a defeat to Burnley at home in January. Solskjaer has started every game since the Premier League restart in a 4-2-3-1 formation and it is hard to imagine he will want to tinker with his preferred system at such a crucial stage in the competition.
Once again, Harry Maguire and Aaron Wan-Bissaka line up in front of David de Gea. Maguire has come under fire for his performances in recent weeks, but bounced back with a clean sheet at Villa Park.
Victor Lindelof has never looked particularly convincing alongside the captain, as he has received a below-par rating of 6.69 overall via WhoScored. In contrast, Eric Bailly is finally fully fit and raring to go, and his physicality could prove useful against Danny Ings.
As it stands, this may be the perfect opportunity for Bailly to stretch his legs and stake his claim for a place in the starting lineup, as he has only managed 328 minutes of football all season.
Who should start for United?
Brandon Williams
Luke Shaw
Meanwhile, Luke Shaw has started every game of United’s unbeaten run up until now. While he has impressed in recent weeks, Brandon Williams hasn’t started since the Premier League restart.
Former Red Devil Wes Brown insists Williams has given his teammate a real “problem” and Solskjaer could try to test his mettle against a side that have scored more goals than Everton this season.
Pogba and Fernandes continued to pull all of the strings in the middle of the park, as they finished the game with a goal a-piece. It is unlikely Solskjaer will want to break this partnership up anytime soon, which means Scott McTominay will miss out once again.
Similarly, Anthony Martial, Fernandes, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood can’t seem to stop scoring at this moment in time, as Greenwood showed a killer instinct to put the game beyond the Villans. Fernandes set up Pogba’s sublime finish to increase his assist tally to six in the season.
The quartet are playing together so well, it wouldn’t make much sense to make any major changes, and Daniel James will likely have to watch from the sidelines after his brief cameo at Villa Park.
United fans, do you think this is how Solskjaer will line up at St Mary’s? Let us know down below!
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