Anyone who knows football will tell you how important a player Michael Carrick has been and should still be to Manchester United.
The 34-year-old has been regularly overlooked in favour of the underwhelming Bastian Schweinsteiger this season but both have suffered injuries of late.
Louis van Gaal confirmed on Friday that Carrick will definitely miss this one in a big blow to Manchester United’s prospects against Liverpool.
He suggested that Basti could be fit but we would sooner see Fellaini in the engine room for what should be another hard-fought contest between two teams desperate for points and momentum.
Fellaini has been poor and he’s unlikely to get in to many a dream team. But he offers more threat going forward than Schweinsteiger, who has arguably been off the pace and pretty clumsy for much of the season.
If the German is not fully fit then Fellaini and Schneiderlin can anchor the midfield and provide the defence with decent cover.
The back 5 should remain unchanged from the Newcastle game. And we feel that Louis van Gaal will again start Jesse Lingard, perhaps for his ability to defend better than Memphis. But we would be starting the Dutchman every day of the week. Manchester United have enough defenders in that team to allow Memphis, Martial and Rooney to stay top, where they can cause the right sort of damage.
Here is our strongest XI for a game which LvG surely can’t afford to lose.
Manchester United fans: let’s have your teams
