At 04:00 a.m. Beijing time on December 27, the 19th round of the English Premier League will stage a focus of attention, with the Red Devils Manchester United sitting at home to face the powerful dark horse team Aston Villa.
Although Manchester United is a Premier League giant, their form this season is significantly inferior to Aston Villa. After the first 18 rounds, Manchester United has 9 wins, 1 draw and 8 losses, accumulating 28 points, only ranking 8th in the Premier League standings, while Aston Villa's performance this season is very strong, after the first 18 rounds, they have 12 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses, accumulating 39 points, ranking among the top three in the Premier League, only 1 point behind the leader Arsenal, and it seems that they are already one of the favorites to win the Premier League. In terms of Manchester United's current state, encountering such a fierce Aston Villa may be more than lucky.
The data shows that Manchester United has won 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss in the last 4 meetings with Aston Villa, and has a slight psychological advantage. Therefore, if Manchester United can play well in this round, it is not impossible to beat Villa. In order to reverse the decline and salvage the crisis of confidence as soon as possible, Manchester United manager Ten Hag will definitely go all out this game and put in the strongest starting line-up he has in mind.
In goal, it is natural that the main goalkeeper Onana is the main goalkeeper in the United goal, and at the back, it is not surprising that Ten Hag will continue to play his most customary back four, with Luke Shaw, Raphael Varane, Evans and Wan-Bissaka likely to start. Raphael Varane and 35-year-old veteran Evans will play in a two-man centre-back pairing, while Luke Shaw and Aaron Wan-Bissaka will play on the wings at left and right wing-back.
In midfield, there is no doubt that the main defender in charge of interceptions and tackles in Manchester United's central midfield will still be Scottish midfielder Scott McTominay, while it should be Moroccan ace Sofyan Amrabat who will be partnered with McTominay in a two-man midfield pair. In front of the double midfield, it is natural that midfield ace Bruno Fernandes sits up front to be responsible for the playmaking and arrangement, as the attacking commander of the front, leading the entire attacking line of Manchester United, and the two wide killers who form the strategy around him should be Argentine talent Garnacho and England international Marcus Rashford.
In the forward line, given Rasmus Hojlen's recent sluggish performance, it is not ruled out that Ten Hag will try to change the knife, so French frustrated striker Anthony Martial is expected to replace Rasmus Hojlen to get the start, charging forward to carry the banner of attack for Manchester United. Therefore, the final 11 expected starting XI for this Manchester United vs Aston Villa game are: Onana, Luke Shaw, Raphael Varane, Evans, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Scott McTominay, Sofyan Amrabat, Bruno Fernandes, Garnacho, Rashford, and Anthony Martial