Manchester United travel to Huddersfield Town in the fifth round of the FA Cup this weekend keen to bounce back from a disappointing Premier League defeat to Newcastle in their last outing by reaching the quarter finals of the Emirates FA Cup for the fourth year in a row. Saturday's clash will be our third meeting with Huddersfield in less than four months.
HOW HAS THE FORM OF BOTH TEAMS BEEN?
David Wagner's men are in buoyant mood ahead of Saturday's game, after defeating Bournemouth 4-1 at home in their last outing. However, Huddersfield have endured a poor start to 2018 overall, and hadn't won in eight league games prior to their morale-boosting victory last weekend.
The win ended a five match losing streak and breathed fresh life into a survival bid that had looked in danger of slipping away from the Terriers.
They are currently 17th in the Premier League table, just outside the bottom three, and have averaged a point a game in their 27 league matches so far this season.
Manchester United suffered a disappointing 1-0 defeat on their last outing against Newcastle United.
Jose Mourinho’s side huffed and puffed, but were unable to blow the house down at St James’ Park and were ultimately sunk by Matt Ritchie’s second-half winner.
They are favourites to bounce back with a win though.
HOW HAVE BOTH SIDES REACHED THIS STAGE?
Both teams will be facing Premier League opposition for the first time in the FA Cup this term. The Reds beat Championship side Derby County 2-0 at Old Trafford in round three, before easing past League Two outfit Yeovil Town with a 4-0 victory at Huish Park.
Meanwhile, the Terriers has seen off two Championship sides but it hasn't been plain sailing. Following a 2-1 win at struggling Bolton in the third round, they needed extra-time in a replay to beat Birmingham City 4-1 at St. Andrew's, after a 1-1 draw at home.
INJURY REPORTS:
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has returned to training, but he is still a number of weeks away from competitive action and Eric Bailly is also still unavailable. Marouane Fellaini is still recovering from knee surgery. Marcus Rashford and Ander Herrera missed last Sunday's game at Newcastle last week through injury and the boss could give a further update on their progress - and his squad as a whole - in Friday's pre-match press conference.
Huddersfield's Tommy Smith could return from a head injury which kept him out of the weekend's 4-1 win over Bournemouth, but Chris Löwe and Laurent Depoitre are likely to miss out again through injury. Aaron Mooy is not also available to play after being forced to undergo knee surgery following an injury in his side's game against Bournemouth last week.
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Saturday's game will be the first in United's history in which a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) will be employed.
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