Marouane Fellaini’s Return to Goodison Park: Under David Moyes, Marouane Fellaini remained on the bench on his Goodison Park return last season. This time around, he’s a main fixture in the squad and is ready to make an impact. It might be an emotional return for the Belgian spending six years at the club which helped him get his name out there. In his last full season for the Toffees, he was named as in the Premier League Team of the Season. Last season, he was a shadow of himself being relegated to the bench and was often used as the target for David Moyes’ failure. This season, Louis van Gaal has called him “undroppable”, but he also said Fellaini has to keep his focus on his return to the ground he called home for six years. Fellaini should be received warmly by the fans, but that could change in a heartbeat if he leaves his mark on this game.

Goalkeeping Heroics: At Old Trafford when Manchester United won 2-1, the story of the day was David de Gea. De Gea was magnificent saving Leighton Baines’ penalty, denying Leon Osman twice from close-range, and the best of them all, his save with his left hand on Bryan Oviedo’s shot which was rising. United’s defense has done better defending giving de Gea less to do now, but he’ll still save the day if he needs too. Tim Howard isn’t having the best of seasons in terms of goalkeeping, but we’re all capable of his abilities. The prime example that everyone goes to is his heroics for the United States against Belgium in the Round of 16 at the World Cup. Albeit the United States lost, Howard made a record-breaking 16 saves in that game. If both defenses don’t show up, expect these two shot-stoppers to make it difficult on any goalscorer.

Romelu Lukaku: The Belgian striker who Roberto Martinez bought for a club-record 28 million pounds is not producing the output both him and his manager are expecting. Eight goals and four assists this season mean that each goal he’s contributed to is over two million pounds. You would think someone who is dubbed as the “next Drogba” or next “world-class striker” would be involved in more goals than that. He has two goals in his last nine games which is a poor strike rate and his eight goals this season match his total in the Europa League. Despite his poor output, Lukaku is still very much a dangerous threat due to his pace and strength so United should be very wary of him especially if young Paddy McNair were to be marking him.

What Formation Does LVG Put Out: Last week due to injuries, Louis van Gaal was forced to put out a 4-5-1 with Falcao up top. If you read our predicted XI and possible formations piece, you see we predicted Manchester United to run the 4-3-3 which they’ve been running for the previous weeks and succeeding with flying colors using it. The team is still ravaged with injuries as Michael Carrick, Phil Jones, and Marcos Rojo are out, but with Daley Blind possibly available, the 4-3-3 would make sense by putting him in the defensive midfielder role and keeping Luke Shaw at left back due to his great performance last week. If Blind is indeed deemed unfit, the 4-5-1 might make sense again for van Gaal's boys. 

Who Does Everton Put Out in Their Midfield: Once again if you have read our predicted XI and possible formations piece, you see that we think that Everton put out Muhamed Besic and Gareth Barry in the midfield. This would mean James McCarthy, Ross Barkley, and Steven Naismith are all relegated to the bench if this were to hold true. This is going to be a very physical midfield two which is what Everton need to try and bother the midfield three of Manchester United with their fluid passing and movement. McCarthy would offer the same things in terms of physicality as the projected starters and even more on attack, but he is just coming off an injury so it might not be the best idea to get him out there immediately. Barkley and Naismith are much more attacking-based than the other three midfielders. Barkley is a much better passer and is deadly from long-range while Naismith can offer a little more pace and is more of a poacher. It might be smart for Roberto Martinez to call upon one of these fellows if they’re down late in the game as they would bring another dimension to Everton’s attack.

More on Everton and Manchester United:

Resurgant Toffees meet in-form Red Devils

Fellaini will relish return to Goodison Park