Jose Mourinho's men have started to click in recent weeks after a difficult start to the season, with the Red Devils now unbeaten in their nine Premier League encounters since a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Chelsea in October. The gap separating them from the Champions League places now stands at just four points; although United would have been hoping to challenge for the title rather than fourth place before the campaign got under way in August, securing a return to Europe’s principal continental competition is vital this term.
Sunderland have also shown signs of life in their last few outings, beating Leicester City and Watford in front of their own supporters, but they have still lost three of their previous five matches and remain in the bottom three as the midway stage of the season approaches. A point is probably the very best they can hope for at Old Trafford, although they understandably head into this encounter as massive underdogs.
United will hope to have Eric Bailly and Henrikh Mkhitaryan available for selection once more, but both men may have to make do with a place on the substitutes’ bench. Mourinho will probably stick closely to the starting XI that began the victory over West Bromwich Albion, with Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones continuing at centre-back, Ander Herrera and Michael Carrick behind Paul Pogba in a three-man midfield, and lone frontman Zlatan Ibrahimovic supported from the flanks by Wayne Rooney – who is just two goals away from becoming United’s all-time record goalscorer – and Jesse Lingard. Juan Mata and Marcus Rashford are both pushing for a start, though, while Daley Blind could replace Matteo Darmian on the left-hand side of the hosts’ back four.
Sunderland, meanwhile, will be unable to call upon the services of Billy Jones (muscular), Jan Kirchhoff (knee), Duncan Watmore (knee), Lynden Gooch (ankle), Paddy McNair (knee), Lee Cattermole (hip) and Jack Rodwell (hamstring), but Steven Pienaar and Javier Manquillo are hoping to shake off knocks in time to feature. Adnan Januzaj is not permitted to face his parent club, however, so Moyes will have to reconfigure his forward line, with Pienaar perhaps in line to join Fabio Borini and Victor Anichebe in the attacking line of three behind striker Jermain Defoe.
Taking everything into account, it is difficult to look past anything other than a comfortable triumph for United on Boxing Day. Mourinho's side have been in excellent form going forward in recent weeks – Pogba and Ibrahimovic have been particularly impressive with some fine performances – and Sunderland's frail defensive unit will probably struggle to cope. A 3-0 home victory could be the best choice in terms of a correct scoreline, while it may also be worth backing Pogba to find the back of the net for the sixth time since he returned to Old Trafford in the summer.
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