How could Manchester United line up v Chelsea in Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s absence?

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has accepted a three-game ban for elbowing Bournemouth defender Tyrone Mings, which means Manchester United will be without their top goalscorer for the important FA Cup quarter-final clash with Premier League leaders Chelsea.

The Swedish striker, 35, had little choice but to accept his violent conduct charge after blatantly elbowing Mings and his fate was of little surprise.

The absence of the former Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona striker will be of some concern to Jose Mourinho, with the Portuguese consistently selecting the Swede.

Here we take a look at how United could shape up without Ibrahimovic in their testing tie at Stamford Bridge…

1. Rashford in, counter-attacking line-up

Mourinho has been known to ‘park the bus’ in the past and there would be no shame in trying to keep things tight in a trip to the league leaders.

Eric Bailly and Chris Smalling, who started against Southampton in the EFL Cup final, could return to the heart of defence, while Ander Herrera could feature alongside Michael Carrick in order to offer the back four more protection.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan is expected to be fit and, if he is, he should start and in this particular system, the pace of the Armenian, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford could be key to hitting Chelsea on the break.

2. Faith in Rooney, workrate over pace

Mourinho is known for going for players he can trust in big games and he may decide to draw on the experience of Wayne Rooney.

In this system, hard work is the key factor rather than pace, with Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata favoured in the wide roles over perhaps the more potent attacking threats of Mkhitaryan and Martial.

Marcos Rojo has also been a trusted performer under Mourinho and his partnership with Phil Jones has been used regularly this season.

3. Go like-for-like with Chelsea

Tottenham Hotspur are the team who’ve looked most dangerous against Chelsea since Antonio Conte’s switch to a 3-4-3 and they lined up similarly to the Blues in their 2-0 success over the Blues at the start of the year.

Mourinho could be tempted to follow suit and go three at the back in an attempt to spring a tactical surprise.

The approach could provide a dangerous front three of Mkhitaryan, Rashford and Martial more freedom, with Shaw and Valencia bombing up and down the flanks.

It may be too much to expect such a drastic change of system but if Mourinho were to opt for it, it’s likely he would include versatile players who could slot in to differing formations should it go wrong.

The inclusion of Daley Blind could, therefore, be a must, with the Dutchman slotting into midfield alongside Herrera into a more regular 4-2-3-1 that is usually adopted by the Red Devils, such as below:

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