As Champions League resumes tonight, Manchester United will be looking to end a run of 3 successive games without a goal. Louis van Gaal will be looking to win this one, for it would get him one step closer to qualification from group stage. However, history is not on United’s side in this one since they have never actually beaten a Russian team at Old Trafford with their last encounter ending in a 3-3 draw back in November 2009. However, CSKA have come and won in Manchester before, beating City 2-1 last year.

TEAM NEWS

Morgan Schneiderlin, Antonio Valencia and James Wilson are all in doubt ahead of the clash today, as they missed yesterday’s training session at Carrington. However, Phil Jones and Memphis Depay did train separately from the rest of the squad.

This means 17 year old Axel Tuanzabe could again be included in the squad, following his inclusion in the game against Crystal Palace last Saturday.

STAT ATTACK

Anthony Martial scored the last goal for United in the reverse fixture, and they have failed to find the net since then. If they fail to score today as well, this will be the first time since October 1992 that they haven’t scored in 4 continuous games. The manner in which they struggled at Selhurst Park could make this a reality too actually.

This will be the 4th meeting between the 2 sides, with United winning once and the other two being draws.

United’s only defeat to a Russian team came in the 2008 European Super Cup against Zenit St Petersburg; however they have also only picked up one win against sides from Russia (D6).

Seydou Doumbia has scored the last 4 goals for his team against the Manchester clubs.

Man United possible starting lineup:

CSKA possible starting lineup:

MY PREDICTION:

Van Gaal is presented with the dilemma of starting Rooney again upfront or putting Martial there and Young on the left. Even if he does persist with Rooney, I predict a boring game that United will just edge past,probably a 1-0 win with Rooney scoring.