Manchester United are finally set to start their 2024 with the Monday night FA Cup third round match against Wigan Athletic. The Red Devils will visit DW Stadium in a clash against a League One side. Here is what you need to know before the game.
Team News
Wigan are big underdogs for this match, but even worse for them is that not all of their players are ready for this match. Tom Pearce and Jason Kerr are both out of contention through injury, while Scott Smith and Stephen Humphrys are the two players who are still major doubts. Also, James Balagizi is no more playing for Wigan, as his loan spell from Liverpool came to an end ahead of this match.
As for Man United, there is still a long line of players who will not participate in this match. Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia are injured at left-back, Lisandro Martinez, Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof will miss out and make Erik Ten Hag’s central defenders choices harder. Then there are the injuries of Casemiro and Mason Mount in midfield and Sofyan Amrabat’s obligations for Morocco at the Africa Cup of Nations. Also, Anthony Martial is not available up front. The good news are that Rasmus Hojlund is ready to play following his illness, which was the reason he missed out on the Nottingham Forest match. Also, Andre Onana is not yet part of the Cameroon national team ahead of the AFCON, so he should be in goal.
Form Guide
Wigan were on a great run during November and first half of December, but since, their results have not been great. A 3-2 loss away at Port Vale was followed by a 2-0 loss at Reading. Their home match against Derby was another loss, 1-0, before they finally defeated Carlisle 2-0. On the first day of 2024, Wigan drew 1-1 away at Barnsley, so they are now sitting in 18th place in League On, with 27 points from 25 matches. Even if they were in great form, that would not have been something United should worry about.
What Man United do need to worry about is their poor end of 2023. Not only did they lose their final match of the year at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground – United lost four of their last six matches. The only good results were against teams above them in the Premier League standings. First, there was a 0-0 draw against Liverpool at Anfield, and then there was the 3-2 comeback win against Aston Villa. But both of those results were quickly followed by new defeats, so the Devils will want to start 2024 in much better spirit and reach the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Predicted Outcome
The recent form is not important here, the team news and players unavailable are not either. Things are simple here – we predict Manchester United will beat Wigan 3-0 in their first match in 2024. United simply have so much more about them than the team from the lower end of League One and playing away from home could even make things better for the Devils as the hosts could be a bit more open in their approach to the match.
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