Manchester United XI vs Leicester City: Van Nistelrooy opts for front two

Manchester United take on Leicester City in the Carabao Cup fourth round this evening.

Caretaker manager Ruud van Nistelrooy will be eyeing a winning start to his Manchester United tenure when the Foxes visit Old Trafford, with kick-off scheduled for 7.45pm.

Van Nistelrooy steps into the role following the Erik ten Hag’s dismissal on Monday as Sunday’s 2-1 defeat against West Ham proved to be the final nail in the coffin for the previous manager, who won two trophies in his first two seasons as United manager.

Ten Hag brought silverware to United but nowhere near enough consistency and a clear style of play is lacking.

Van Nistelrooy has named the following team to face Leicester and it looks like we’re going to set up in a 4-4-2 formation (like we did in the good old days!):

Altay Bayindir starts between the posts in front of a back four consisting of Diogo Dalot, Victor Lindelof, Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez.

We will also see Casemiro in midfield alongside Manuel Ugarte.

Bruno Fernandes and Joshua Zirkzee play up front together, while Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho operate on the flanks. That alone suggests we’re going to attack Leicester City tonight… it’s also quite a different system to what we’ve previously watched under Erik ten Hag.

Can Manchester United go all the way in the Carabao Cup?

First step is beating Leicester City tonight.

Then, as we proved in Ten Hag’s first season in charge, anything is possible.

Ten Hag delivered the Carabao Cup which ended a six-year trophy drought at United. A feat that now gets overlooked because he has been sacked.

It’s a good competition to win because it’s out of the way in February. A nice time to have a trophy under your arm after a day out at Wembley.

Hopefully Ruben Amorim can get United back on track before it’s too late, but Van Nistelrooy faces the challenge tonight.