In what is perhaps our most important game of the season so far, Manchester United must overturn a 2-1 deficit against Sunderland and send the fans home happy knowing they’ve a trip to Wembley to look forward to. If we make it to the final, an all-Manchester affair awaits.
Sunderland have been on an excellent run of late, and they’ve only lost one in their last ten under Gus Poyet. Moyes on the other hand is struggling for form, United have slumped to four losses out of their last five games, including defeats to Chelsea, Swansea and Sunderland themselves.
KO: 19:45 BST
Venue: Old Trafford
Date: 22nd January 2014
Manchester United will be looking to Adnan Januzaj once again. The young Belgian was the only real shining light in the humbling 3-1 defeat away at Chelsea, and as we all know he has previous against Sunderland. Both Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra look set to miss out with knee problems, and Marouane Fellaini still isn’t fully fit. Nani has a hamstring issue, and although Robin van Persie has returned to training this game will probably come too soon for him. Wayne Rooney could feature from the start.
Sunderland have an almost fully-fit squad available for selection. Adam Johnson is in excellent form at the moment having scored seven goals for Sunderland over the past month. Fabio Borini has also been in good form, and his work-rate could cause a problem for our defenders if they aren’t concentrating fully. The only two injuries the Black Cats have are Carlos Cuellar and Kieran Westwood, who are injured with a hip problem and shoulder concerns respectively.
See our predicted line-ups here.
Manchester United must win, its as simple as that. If the unthinkable were to happen and we were to get knocked out, the pressure on David Moyes will be greater than ever. No disrespect to Sunderland, but United should have the quality to overcome a relegation-battling side over two legs.
Score prediction: Manchester United 2-0 Sunderland
That said, I think we’ll sneak through. Wayne Rooney should start, and hopefully he’ll pick up where he left off and fire us into the final.
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