After a poor home loss at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain in The Champions League, Manchester United get ready for West Ham. In the Premier League this weekend Manchester United travel to West Ham in a bid to extend their best away form in their Premier League history. Solskjaer’s squad has been boosted with the likes of McTominay, Pogba and Martial coming back to full fitness after missing the last league fixture.
West Ham, under David Moyes, have been in fine form this season and will look to take advantage of United’s weaknesses. But Solskjaer will be confident of United’s recent performances especially away from home. It will be expected for the Red Devils to win the game but West Ham have become a dark horse in the recent years, thus the game will be unpredictable.
Let us now have a look at how Ole Gunnar Solskjaer might line his Manchester United side up against West Ham.
THE 4-4-2 (DIAMOND)
David De Gea might be rested for the game against West Ham after he complained of pain in the game against PSG after conceding the second goal. Henderson has played well whenever he has been given a chance and surely deserves more minutes for the Red Devils. The back-four is very likely to remain the same as the last game as they have looked stable together, with Maguire and Lindelof coming out well from all the criticism.
The diamond in midfield has worked well for Solskjaer and he will be inclined to use it against West Ham to nullify the distribution quality of Declan Rice. Though Fred got a red card against PSG, him and Van de Beek have looked very comfortable in midfield with Matic playing as a holding midfielder. Bruno Fernandes is a given in any Manchester United side as he has the Premier League highest chance creator this season.
Cavani has had a great start to his Manchester United career and thus he is very likely to start the game alongside Marcus Rashford.
THE 4-2-3-1
This side and this system are Solskjaer’s favourite and most used this season as Fred and McTominay are very good defensively. The United boss might also use the likes of Matic, Van de Beek or even Pogba who are all fit and ready to play for Manchester United. Because West Ham aren’t very good going forward, Solskjaer might play Van de Beek instead of McTominay as well and Pogba is very likely to play a cameo towards the end of the game.
Martial has played well down the left-wing but has missed some very easy chances with will not sit well with Solskjaer. But he might still Martial for his dribbling and hold-up play which suits the way Manchester United play under Solskjaer. The Frenchman was United’s top scorer last season but this season he looks like someone who has forgotten how to score goals.
THE 4-3-3
Though this is an ultra-attacking system, this might just work against a side like West Ham, who will sit deep and defend near their own box. But it is highly unlikely for Solskjaer to do so as he doesn’t trust Maguire and Lindelof and thus always needs in a couple of midfielders in front of them. If Manchester United had a mobile defensive midfielder unlike Matic, this system would have been used heavily.
