Manchester United’s quest to win the Europa League continues on Monday night.
United face FC Copenhagen, and former youngster Guillermo Varela, in a one-off quarter-final. The winner will face either Sevilla or Wolves in the last four.
United rotated the team against LASK as expected, and now Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has to decide whether to play his first choice XI, as he no doubt would in the semi-finals, or a side which is a mix of both.
A combination of rest and reward
Solskjaer will bring back key players for this fixture, although perhaps not all of them. Bruno Fernandes, Mason Greenwood and Aaron Wan-Bissaka for instance may be kept on the bench to bring on if required.
The point of this would be to reward those who did well against LASK while conserving the energy of others, and that is why we have gone for just three changes here.
Fred out and Paul Pogba in: United were far better once Paul Pogba came on against LASK and he is a certain starter here. The Frenchman should be able to help United control the midfield alongside Scott McTominay.
Dan James out and Marcus Rashford in: This one should be obvious. Rashford offers a goal threat, and James, well, doesn’t.
Odion Ighalo out and Anthony Martial in: Ighalo was unlucky at LASK as he did not get much quality service. But Martial is the clear first choice and should come back in.
A look at those who could keep their places
Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard were two of United’s brighter players against LASK, especially when switched so that the Spaniard moved centrally.
Along with the industrious McTominay they could keep their places here. Mata created four chances against the Austrians, more than the rest of the United team combined.
There will be a temptation to bring in Greenwood and Fernandes, but United could hold them back to use as impact substitutes.
In defence Maguire and Williams are the only certain starters. Eric Bailly and Sergio Romero definitely did enough to warrant keeping their places.
Timothy Fosu-Mensah was another who got better as the game went on and Solskjaer may want another look at the Dutchman at right-back in this one.
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