Fergie starts with 5 in midfield

Manchester United’s starting XI for the FA Cup Semi Final has been announced with Sir Alex opting to name 5 midfield players with Dimitar Berbatov seemingly playing alone up front. We will probably see Park alternate between harassing City’s central midfield and moving outside which should allow Nani to move up in support of Berbatov.

Sir Alex will not be able to call upon the services of Ryan Giggs, but in form striker Javier Hernandez could come on later in the match.

My concern is that Berbatov doesn’t play particularly well when playing alone upfront and never looks entirely happy with Nani who rarely seems to be on the same wave length with the Bulgarian striker. Let’s hope the two read each others movements better today.

Hart

Zabaletta Kompany Lescott Kolarov

De Jong Barry

Johnson - Toure – - – - Silva

Balotelli

vs

Berbatov

Nani -  -  – Park – - Valencia

Scholes Carrick

Evra Vidic Ferdinand O’Shea

van der Sar

Subs: Kuszczak, Fabio, Smalling, Gibson, Anderson, Owen, Hernandez

Man City XI: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Kolarov, De Jong, Barry, A Johnson, Yaya Toure, Silva, Balotelli.