Manchester United travel to Goodison Park to take on high-flying Everton in the Premier League on Saturday.
United striker Anthony Martial is available for selection on Saturday, with the French forward having served his three-match ban, Alex Telles, Victor Lindelof and Jesse Lingard are doubts but Eric Bailly will miss out through injury.
After losing their last two games in all competitions, United will be hoping for a positive result here, particularly as the MEN understands United have made contact with Mauricio Pochettino’s representatives with a view to him potentially replacing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as the club’s manager.
So, what will the final score be? And what team will Solskjaer go with against the Toffees? We used FIFA 21 to simulate the outcome of this weekend’s game.
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Everton vs United score predicted using FIFA 21
To set up this simulation, we used kick-off mode within FIFA 21 but didn’t select a team to control; we then selected the teams and watched the match play out by itself, to give us a prediction.
The AI difficulty was set to legendary, with the line-up updated with the latest transfers, injuries and suspensions.
We predict that Everton could set up in a 4-3-2-1 formation, with the line-up as follows: Pickford; Coleman, Keane, Mina, Digne; Doucoure, Allan, Gomes; Rodriguez, Sigurdsson; Calvert-Lewin.
(Image: EA SPORTS FIFA)
We predict that United could set up in a 4-3-3 formation, with their line-up as follows: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw; Fred, McTominay, Fernandes; Greenwood, Martial, Rashford.
Our FIFA 21 simulated match was a very tight and tense affair, with both teams seemingly trying not to lose the game, rather than win it outright.
But despite the lack of ambition from both teams, United took the lead in fortuitous circumstances in the 16th minute. Midfielder Fred pounced on a loose ball inside the area after a corner-kick was whipped into the area, with the Brazilian left with an easy finish from close range to open the scoring.
Such was the subdued nature of the game, each team only had one real chance in the second-half.
United’s came with just 20 minutes of the clash to go, with Martial rolling his marker inside the area and firing an effort towards the top corner, but Jordan Pickford saved well.
Then just five minutes before the end, Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s header in the area found Gylfi Sigurdsson unmarked, but David De Gea produced a great save with his feet to deny the Icelandic midfielder late on.
FIFA 21 predicted score: Everton 0-1 United
Here are the full-time stats.
Our simulated game saw the home side have only one shot on target, with United having three, in what was a tight match with very few chances.
But thanks to an early goal from Fred, United got back to winning ways in our virtual game.
What do you think the score will be on Saturday?
FIFA 21 is out now on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. The next generation version of the game set to be released on December 4, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
Fans who jump into FIFA 21 can also benefit from Dual Entitlement, enabling them to upgrade their copy of the game from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5, or Xbox One to Xbox Series X/S at no extra cost.
All progress made or content acquired within FIFA 21 Ultimate Team (including players, items, coins, FIFA Points, match record, and leaderboard placement), as well as all progression in VOLTA FOOTBALL will transfer over to PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S.
