Sir Alex Ferguson has released the Manchester United lineup, and it's a bit of a strange one. No less than seven defenders feature for the home side, who are clearly treating the FA Cup as a bit of an annoying distraction in the leadup to United's key Champions League clash against Marseille in three days time. There'll be no Paul Scholes, no Ryan Giggs, no Dimitar Berbatov, and there's not even any sign of Michael Carrick. The da Silva twins look as though they're playing as wide midfielders, and the only 'midfielder' who isn't traditionally a defender is Darron Gibson, and classifying him as a natural midfielder would also be a little bit silly considering how he can't play there either.
Manchester United Vs. Arsenal FC, FA Cup: Manchester United Lineup
In good news, Antonio Valencia returns from the horrifying broken ankle he suffered months ago against Glasgow Rangers, making the bench for United, but there's less happy news as well - according to Ferguson both Carrick and Darren Fletcher are injured and have 'no chance' of playing against Marseille on Tuesday (let alone today), leaving the club with little option but to play a 4-4-2 and hope for the best.
Manchester United (4-4-2): Edwin van der Sar; Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic, Chris Smalling, Wes Brown; Fabio da Silva, Darron Gibson, John O'Shea, Rafael da Silva; Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez.
Substitutes: Tomasz Kuszczak, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Antonio Valencia, Dimitar Berbatov, Gabriel Obertan, Joshua King.
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