Abhranil Roy
The onus is on van Gaal and his men to deliver the goods when they take on a charged Stoke side who have beaten Manchester City 2-0 earlier this month. A lot of speculation has been ongoing about the Dutchman’s managerial position and as to whether he will be kept come the New Year. The pre match press conference lasted only six minutes, with van Gaal hitting out at the media on Wednesday, accusing the press of publishing false reports over his future and asking if anyone wanted to apologize to him.
Team news
Stoke will be missing Geoff Cameron (hamstring), Peter Crouch (groin) and Stephen Ireland (hamstring) while long-term absentees Shay Given and Marc Muniesa are also out.
United will be without suspended midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger as well as Matteo Darmian and Jesse Lingard (both hamstring). Marcos Rojo, Antonio Valencia and Luke Shaw are also unavailable.
STAT ATTACK
* Stoke City have won just one of their 14 Premier League matches against Manchester United (W1 D2 L11), but have lost just one of the last four at home (W1 D2 L1).
* The Potters have never kept a cleansheet against Man Utd in the Premier League.
* Manchester United have won 18 of their last 19 fixtures played on Boxing Day (W18 L1).
* Stoke City have won just one of their last four home games against Manchester United in all competitions.
* Wayne Rooney has scored on Boxing Day in the last two years (two goals v Newcastle in 2014, onegoal v Hull in 2013).
* Manchester United have failed to win any of their last six games in all competitions (L3 D3) – the last time that they went on a run this long within a single season was in their treble-winning campaign of 1998-99 (Dec 1998).
Stats via FourFourTwo
PREDICTED LINE UP:
Stoke starting lineup: Butland; Johnson, Shawcross, Wollschied, Pieters; Adam, Whelan; Arnautovic, Bojan, Shaqiri; Diouf
Manchester United starting lineup: De Gea; Young, Jones, Smalling, Blind; Herrera, Carrick; Mata, Depay, Martial; RooneyRooney
PREDICTION:
Heart says 2-1 to United, mind says 2-1 to Stoke. Can’t wait for kickoff now.
