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| Image from Sky Sports |
With two games left to play Manchester United know that their Top Four hopes rely on both Arsenal and Chelsea dropping points as well as winning both games against Huddersfield and Cardiff. The first of which is against already relegated Huddersfield Town, here’s all you need to know:
Teams: Huddersfield Town vs Manchester United
Location: John Smith’s Stadium
KO: 5th May 14:00 GMT
Managers: Jan Siewert and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Referee: Lee Mason
What form are both teams in?
Manchester United are in torrid form and have not won a single game since beating West Ham 2-1 and not won away from home since beating Paris Saint-Germain in what seems like an age ago. Most recently a home draw to Chelsea summed up the squad’s lack of fitness and energy as their impressive first half performance was not matched in the second half and Chelsea controlled the second period.
WLLLD GF:3 GA:11
Huddersfield Town are already relegated and their form shows it. They have not won since the end of February and only their third win all season. Huddersfield have lost their last five games including heavy losses to Tottenham, Leicester and Liverpool. United may be in bad form but Huddersfield are in sorrowful form.
LLLLL GF:2 GA: 17
What does this game mean for the table?
With Huddersfield rock bottom of the league table and unable to move ahead of 19th place Fulham, they have nothing to earn from these remaining fixtures other than pride. As for Manchester United, a win for United will send them above Arsenal unless the Gunners win against Brighton at 16:30 later that day. United know that.
Team News:
Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku and Jesse Lingard all missed Wednesday’s training session and are slight doubts for Sunday. Marcus Rashford came off against Chelsea and will be assessed ahead of the Huddersfield game as well. Bailly, Romero and Greenwood are out but the youngster will be available to play against Cardiff. O’Connor, Garner, Gomez and Chong have all been training with the first team and Club Captain Antonio Valencia has also rejoined training and could make his final appearance against Cardiff. Huddersfield have a slightly shorter list with only Laurent Depoitre, Aaron Mooy and Ben Hamer doubts but are big players for the Terriers.
Interesting Facts:
- Manchester United are in their worst winless run since Louis Van Gaal’s 8 game run in 2015.
- Huddersfield have scored nine home goals, no team has ever failed to get less than ten goals in a Premier League campaign.
- If Huddersfield lose to Manchester United they will equal the record for the most number of defeats in a Premier League campaign – 29 losses.
- Anthony Martial has 10 league goals this season and needs two more goals to better his tally in his debut season for Manchester United.
- United have only lost one game to Huddersfield in the club’s history – this fixture last season.
- Romelu Lukaku has three goals in three appearances against Huddersfield, more than any other United player.
Team Selection and Squad Prediction
De Gea is guaranteed to start after Romero’s injury. Lindelof and Rojo will probably start following Bailly’s injury and with Shaw and Young completing the back four. Matic, Herrera and Pogba should all start against Huddersfield as they looked sharp against Chelsea in the first half at least. Mata should start too after scoring against Chelsea and after Rashford suffered an injury against the Blues, Sanchez and Lukaku could start pending fitness assessments. As for the result, you would expect United to cleave through Huddersfield like butter and after a poor second half against Chelsea, you’d expect early goals in this game. Nothing but a win will do and a big result wouldn’t go a miss either.
Predicted Team: De Gea, Young (c), Lindelof, Rojo, Shaw, Matic, Herrera, Pogba, Mata, Alexis, Lukaku
PREDICTED SCORE: 0-5 to United
