The seemingly unstoppable Manchester United machine under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer continues its merry journey into Tuesday's Premier League clash with Burnley at Old Trafford having recorded an eighth successive win with the Norwegian at the helm in Friday's FA Cup visit to Arsenal.
United are the country's form team right now, and with Burnley, Leicester City and Fulham providing the opposition in their next three games there is a real possibility of them gaining further ground on the top four over the next fortnight.
Solskjaer remains humble regarding the job he has done so far and the chances of getting the gig in the longer term, but a ninth consecutive victory would only ramp up the calls from some circles to be made United's permanent manager sooner rather than later.
Man Utd Injuries
Chris Smalling and Marcos Rojo could be candidates to return for United having resumed training last week following injuries, but Marouane Fellaini is likely to remain sidelined for some time with a calf problem.
Other than that, Solskjaer has a largely clean bill of health amongst his squad, with Alexis Sanchez having marked his return from hamstring trouble on Friday with a goal against former club Arsenal.
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Man Utd Suspensions
There are no suspension concerns for either United or Burnley heading into Tuesday's game, with nobody set to serve a ban at Old Trafford. Neither is there the prospect of anyone being ruled out of the next fixture with a booking due to the recent amnesty on yellow cards. Between now and the end of March it would take 10 domestic bookings to see players served with an automatic suspension.
Possible Man Utd Starting Line-Up
Despite the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez making a huge impressive on their returns to the starting line-up against Arsenal, Soslkjaer could well revert back to something like his most favoured XI so far when Burnley visit on Tuesday.
Lukaku set up United's first two goals in north London, but with the consistency of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard so far it would be a tough call to start the Belgian once more. Sanchez may also be back on the bench having come through his first 70-minute test in his latest return from injury.
Elsewhere it could be a fairly familiar look, although Eric Bailly may have done enough on Friday to earn himself the nod over Phil Jones at centre back. With the likes of Smalling and Rojo not far from full fitness, it's fair to say that Solskjaer has plenty of options available to him.
Burnley Team News
Burnley are back in Manchester just three days after going down to a humbling 5-0 FA Cup loss to Manchester City and Sean Dyche will be looking for an immediate response from his struggling side.
The Clarets have spent much of the season on the back foot having exited the Europa League early in the campaign and finding themselves in the bottom three almost from the first kick, but they have managed to put three points between themselves and the relegation zone in recent weeks.
James Tarkowski was one of only four starters against Watford in their last league fixture to then back up with another appearance against City on Saturday, and Dyche is likely to revert back to a more familiar first XI for their trip to M16. "We patched together a team today so I'm not too disgruntled," Dyche told reporters afterwards. "We are out of the cup, which I have a lot of respect for, but our bigger goal is the Premier League."
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TV Coverage & Kick-Off Time
The game kicks off at 8:00pm GMT (3:00pm ET), with no live UK TV showing. The match will be available in the US through NBC Sports Network.
Best Opta Match Facts
- Since losing their first ever Premier League meeting against them in August 2009, Man Utd are unbeaten in their last eight against Burnley (W5 D3), keeping six clean sheets in that time.
- Burnley are winless in their last 19 away games against Man Utd in all competitions (D7 L12), since winning 5-2 in a top-flight game in September 1962.
- Since beating Chelsea on the opening weekend of the 2017-18 season, Burnley are winless in their last eight away league games against ‘big six’ sides, losing the last four in a row by an aggregate score of 1-14.
- 45% of Burnley’s 22 points won in the Premier League this season have come in their last four games (W3 D1 L0), while 41% of Man Utd’s 44 points this season have come in their six games under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
- Man Utd manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could become the first ever manager to win his first seven Premier League games in charge of a club. Carlo Ancelotti (Chelsea) and Pep Guardiola (Man City) both also managed six.
- Man Utd striker Romelu Lukaku has had a hand in six goals in his six Premier League starts against Burnley, scoring four and assisting two.
- Marcus Rashford has scored in his last four Premier League appearances for Man Utd – should he score in this match, he would be the third youngest player to score in five in a row in the Premier League, behind Nicolas Anelka in 1998 and Jose Antonio Reyes in 2004.
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