Manchester United Lineup: Who'll make the starting XI vs Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup semifinal?

Jose Mourinho walks into the FA Cup semi-final against great friend Mauricio Pochettino with the weight of expectations on his shoulders.

Win, and that's the least he could have done - guide Manchester United to an FA Cup final.

Lose, and... a trophyless season for Mourinho; and for his Manchester United? Unthinkable.

You can follow the game live right here - FA Cup Live | Manchester United vs Tottenham Live

In their first match this season in the Premier League, Mourinho came out trumps thanks to a solitary Anthony Martial goal... it was a game in which he packed the midfield with Ander Herrera and Nemanja Matic behind Henrikh Mkhitaryan (remember him) in the absence of an injured Paul Pogba - and thus snuffed out Spurs' creative threat while giving his forwards a platform to create on.

In the reverse fixture, though, Mourinho went all-out attack, playing Paul Pogba alongside Nemanja Matic - the both of them 'sitting' behind Jesse Lingard.. and for a while, it worked. Sure, they conceded an odd early goal, but for at least the first 20 minutes, United were constantly moving forward - albeit without creating too many clearcut chances - but as the game wore on, Spurs capitalised on Pogba's positional indiscipline to swamp midfield, pulling Eriksen deeper and Alli more central, creating a 2 v 1 on Matic and absolutely played United off the park.

Mourinho'll be keen to ensure a repeat of that performance does not happen this time around... and this could just mean a return to a three-man midfield. While this does not play to Jesse Lingard's strengths, it does very much play to Pogba's strengths - and that's not a trade-off that will keep Mourinho up all night.

The big question, then, is who'll play alongside Romelu Lukaku up top. It's unlikely that Alexis Sanchez will be dropped for such a big game - especially given his excellent 2nd half at the Etihad - which means another day on the bench for Le Sulk 2.0 while on the right Mourinho has to choose between the one-touch play of Lingard, the sheer electricity of Marcus Rashford and the understated guile of Juan Mata; We believe Rashford's done enough to warrant a place in the starting XI - and his presence would keep both Ben Davies and Son Heung-Min on their toes down that Spurs left-flank; an important consideration for Mourinho.

At the back, Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young will almost certainly force their way back into the team, while professional ninja and part-time footballer Eric Bailly is likely to be partnered with goal-poacher extraordinaire Chris Smalling.

I wonder, though, who'll start in goal...

Here, then, is what we feel the starting XI would like:

Manchester United Predicted XI (4-3-3): David De Gea (GK); Antonio Valencia (C), Eric Bailly, Chris Smalling, Ashley Young; Ander Herrera, Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba; Marcus Rashford, Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez