By Susan
Jose Mourinho is faced with attacking dilemma as his Manchester United team make the trip to Stamford Bridge for the FA Cup quarterfinal against Chelsea a few hours from now.
The Portuguese coach would be without four strikers for the crucial match; Zlatan Ibrahimovic was banned for three matches for elbowing Tyrone Kings while Wayne Rooney, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial are also all doubtful with the reports that the trio have not travelled with the rest of the squad.
Rooney was reported to have picked up an injury in training after colliding with Phil Jones while the cause of Martial’s injury in not clear and Rashford is unavailable due to illness.
Ibrahimovic has scored vital goals for United this season and his absence will create a vacuum in the Red Devils attack. His two goals in the EFL Cup final won the competition for United.
And due to their unavailability, here are some options Mourinho may consider:
The first option is Henrikh Mkhitaryan coming as a false 9 in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Ashely Young and Jesse Lingard covering the flanks, Paul Pogba in the middle, and Michael Carrick and Ander Herrera in the defensive midfield role. While Marcus Rojo, Chris Smalling, Bailly and Antonio Valencia would make the defence and De Gea in between the sticks.
The second option would be to use Maroune Fellaini in the role. The Belgian man is not new to such as he has played in similar rile for Everton before and he could use his aerial ability as an advantage.
Mkhitaryan and Lingard will cover the flanks while the defence remain unchanged.
The last option would be to use both Fellaini and Mkhitaryan in a 3-5-2 formation with Pogba, Carrick, Herrera, Shaw and Valencia forming a five-man midfield while Rojo, Smelling and Bailly at the back.
