Stoke City vs Man United
Venue: Britannia Stadium
Kick off: 1:45pm
Manchester United will enter Saturday’s (today) Premier League clash at Stoke City off the back of six games without a win in all competitions and with the pressure heavily building on Head Coach Louis van Gaal.
Stoke, on the other hand, lost at home to Crystal Palace last time out, but a solid first half to the 2015-16 campaign has left Mark Hughes’s side in 11th position in the table, just six points behind their opponents on Boxing Day.
Times are changing at Stoke, with head coach Hughes taking the team away from the style that became so famous under Tony Pulis and replacing it with a free-flowing brand of attacking football.
The Potters did not actually win any of their first six league games this season, but have been in strong form in recent months and victory against Manchester United could move them as high as eighth depending on other results.
The attacking trident of Marko Arnautovic, Bojan Krkic and Xherdan Shaqiri were all in fine form when Stoke recorded a 2-0 win over Manchester City at the start of the month, while the Potters have also beaten Chelsea on home soil this term.
They have only lost one of their last four Premier League matches at home to Man United.
That said, somewhat surprisingly, Stoke have actually only won one of their 14 Premier League matches against Man United, losing 11 times in the process.
The Potters have also never kept a clean sheet against the Red Devils in the Premier League.
An explosive press conference from Van Gaal on Wednesday further added to suggestions that the Dutchman is feeling the pressure ahead of what could be a season-defining match against Stoke.
Van Gaal did not speak about injuries or the like in his main conference to the media and instead blasted reporters for running stories surrounding his position at the club.
“Has anybody in this room not a feeling to apologise to me? That’s what I am wondering,” asked Van Gaal on Wednesday in a press conference that lasted just five minutes.
It took some of the attention away from his team’s recent form, which has seen them go winless in their last six games in all competitions.
They are out the Champions League and League Cup and will enter the Boxing Day clash fifth in the Premier League table.
The Red Devils are level on points with fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, but currently sit nine points off the leaders, Leicester City, and seven behind second-placed Arsenal, who are seen as the favourites to win the title.
Manchester United have lost each of their last two games in the league, including a 2-1 home defeat to Norwich City last weekend.
Not since November 21 have they collected all the points in England’s top flight and that was courtesy of a late Troy Deeney own-goal at Watford.
Since then, they have drawn against Leicester and West Ham United, in addition to losing at Bournemouth and, as mentioned, at home to Norwich.
It has been claimed that Van Gaal could lose his job if another defeat occurs against Stoke, but Manchester United have won 18 of their last 19 fixtures on Boxing Day.
Stoke possible starting lineup: Rutland, Johnson, Shawcross, Wollscheid, Pieters, Whelan, Adam, Arnautovic, Bojan, Shaqiri, Walters.
Manchester United possible starting lineup: De Gea, Young, Jones, Smalling, Blind, Schneiderlin, Carrick, Depay, Mata, Martial, Rooney.