Louis van Gaal is for the time being free to continue as Manchester United manager, but he is desperate to stop the run of six matches without a victory which has seen the Red Devils drop out of the Champions League berth. Also United have now fallen nine points off the top and the Dutchman’s assertion to reach the top in the next four weeks seems not at all optimistic.
However, when you are desperately looking for a positive, attacking performance; the one place you don’t want to go is the Britannia Stadium. The only way to beat Stoke is to grind it out, any fancy approach will only end in crunching dismay, under-fire United boss should remember that.
On the other hand Stoke City, with six clean sheets in their last eight fixtures, will be a tricky opponent for sure, but they are also coming off the back of a home defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace.
Here is the Boxing Day line-up for both the teams.
Stoke City Starting Lineup:
Butland, Pieters, Wollscheid, Shawcross, Johnson, Whelan, Cameron, Afellay, Arnautovic, Shaqiri, Bojan
Stoke City Substitutes:
Huagaaro, Joselu, Wilson, V. Ginkel, Adam, Diouf, Walters
Manchester United Starting Line-up:
De Gea, Young, Smalling, Jones, Blind, Carrick, Herrera, Mata, Fellaini, Memphis, Martial
Manchester United Substitutes:
Romero, Borthwick-Jackson, McNair, Varela, Pereira, Schneiderlin, Rooney