Mata scores victor as Manchester United eliminates City in EFL Cup

“Sunday’s 4-0 defeat at Chelsea was not a United result; it was a result which made us all extremely sorry for all our supporters and we all apologise for it”.

Xavi faced up against Mourinho during their time at Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively. I went to the game against Leicester and I was reading the game and I thought we needed the speed of Jesse Lingard. They haven’t lost to anybody you think they shouldn’t lose to and they’ve not got to do the same work as needed at United. Surely, among all the big money signings that made their way to the Premier League, Sadio Mane is easily one of the most effective in the Premier League.

Despite Claudio Bravo being the first-choice goalkeeper, the manager knows he can’t play every single game, and could bring in veteran Willy Caballero against United.

HollywoodLifers, who will you be rooting for in the fourth round cup contest? He was partly successful with his ruse. AFP/Getty Images Manchester United’s Juan Mata (right) celebrates after scoring his side’s first goal during the EFL Cup, round of 16 match at Old Trafford, Manchester.

City responded, with Iheanacho breaking forward seconds later, but this time, Marcos Rojo produced the crucial block to keep the scoreline at 0-0.

But with Zlatan Ibrahimovic once again leading the line, United lacked pace and movement up-front and their approach play was predictable, with everything played wide rather than through the middle. Vincent Kompany starts in defence with Aleix Garcia getting the nod from Pep Guardiola to start in midfield. And Xavi thinks the renewed rivalry between Mourinho and Manchester City boss Pep Guradiola is a very exciting prospect for football.Xavi now plays his football for Al Sadd in Qatar but witnessed the Mourinho-Guardiola battle at close quarters when the latter was his coach at Barca while Mourinho was in charge at Real.

A sentence Guardiola has never read before coming to Manchester.

“Our last few games have been tough”, Guardiola told British media.

United now had to decide whether to stick or twist – hold out for the 1-0 victory or push for the second to kill the game. Any result apart from a win will increase the white noise surrounding Mourinho.

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Chelsea captain John Terry was an unused substitute in the recent wins over Leicester and United, but he could start for the first time in six weeks on Wednesday following an ankle injury. However, the fact that Mourinho clearly does not fancy Luke Shaw seems to have been overlooked by most.

“For the players who play, we’ll be depending on them to make the best performance possible”. One win in five Premier League matches is a poor return and the big stars need to show their manager they are worthy of wearing the famous jersey. But City at least could argue that it had been much the better side in the draw against Everton and even in the draw with Southampton when, despite a odd sense of flatness, it conceded only through a terrible individual error from John Stones (albeit one possibly induced by a lack of passing options offered by his midfield).