Pochettino’s Man Utd lineup for Anfield should be the side that drew 4-4 with Aston Villa, minus the three players who made the mistakes, in the same 4-2-3-1. Michael Carrick was sacked on Thursday and the BBC reports that Mauricio Pochettino will take his first training session on 18 or 19 November, which leaves three or four days before the trip to Anfield on Sunday 22 November (4.30pm UK time). There’s no time for a new system, so the Man Utd lineup vs Liverpool has to come from what’s already in the building.

Shape, names and the bench are our prediction. Injury status is from official Fantasy Premier League data on 12 November.

Three changes, not a new team

The Villa XI was Lammens, Dalot, Yoro, Maguire, Mazraoui, Tielemans, Mainoo, Amad, Fernandes, Cunha and Mbeumo, and the BBC’s Simon Stone marked all five of the back line at 5 or below. Lammens, Dalot and Mazraoui all got a 4. Dalot lost his place to Dorgu at 66 minutes and Dorgu then won the game back with an assist and a header, an 8 from Stone.

So Dorgu starts. Shaw is out with no return date, Dalot gave away the penalty at the start of the second half, and the Anfield game is no place to find out whether Heaven or Dalot can play left-back. Maguire is a 75% doubt with his back, which brings Lisandro Martinez in beside Yoro. Martinez has 582 league minutes this season, no injury flag and didn’t appear in the BBC’s ratings for the Villa game, so he comes in fresh to a back line that conceded four.

That’s two changes. The third is in goal only if you think Lammens should lose his place after Stone’s verdict that he was “one of Man Utd’s best performers this season but a calamitous start” against Villa. He keeps it. Darlow hasn’t played a league minute this season and De Ligt hasn’t either, per official FPL data.

The shape he already uses

Pochettino told reporters after his USA side drew 1-1 with Ecuador in October 2025: “we defend with a back four, two midfielders and three and one.” CBS Sports reports he also described building “three, two and then five”. United’s 4-2-3-1 gives him the first half of that sentence without a single new drill. Fox Sports’ Stu Holden wrote in September 2025, after the 2-0 win over Japan, that Pochettino should stick to the 3-4-2-1 until the World Cup, which is why we picked a 3-4-2-1 for yesterday’s version. With this squad and this calendar the four-man line is the safer call.

The attacking positions are the ones he can lean on. Cunha was Stone’s “United’s most dangerous attacker” against Villa, Fernandes scored the penalty Cunha won and Mbeumo did, in Stone’s words, “a lot of chasing in the first half to try to pressure the Villa defence into mistakes”. That’s the job Pochettino asks his front four to do in the first ten seconds after a turnover, and Mbeumo already does it. Fernandes steps up beside Zirkzee when United press.

Zirkzee leads the line because Šeško is out with a shin injury. He came on against Villa and scored in stoppage time, and he has 89 league minutes all season.

What Liverpool bring

Liverpool have Virgil and Gravenberch at 75% in the FPL data and Frimpong and Ekitiké listed as out. United went two goals down inside four minutes against Villa, so if Pochettino gets one thing across in three sessions, it should be the first ten minutes.

Brentford at home on Saturday 28 November (3pm) follows, and the full run is in the next ten league games. The Maguire fitness update is on his injury page.