Next Monday, 20th of October 2014, the erratic Manchester United team will visit The Hawthorns to go head-to-head with West Brom for the eighth round of the English Premier League, a match that the visitors need to win if they don’t to lose the front carriages of the league’s table train.

It is fairly difficult to rate Manchester United so far this season. After all the enthusiasm during the pre-season matches, the Red Devils were slapped really hard by reality when they were defeated at Old Trafford by Swansea on the very first match of the new campaign. Their new boss went from genius to mediocre in just a couple of days, as the media immediately started to question his ambitious tactical approaches, which had been highly praised during the pre-season.

It is unreal to think that someone, even an highly skilled managed such as Van Gaal, is able to change, over such a short period of time, something that has been being poorly prepared from more than two years. The last season under the helm of Sir Alex Ferguson was somewhat deficiently and hastily prepared and if one adds the tactical abyss and confusing game style brought in by David Moyes last term to that equation, one is left with a deadly combination, able to knock out any team, anywhere in the World.

The Dutch manager is still passing his ideas unto the team and if United manage to embark on good streak of matches, they will be battling for the EPL title in the blink of an eye.

Next Monday, the Red Devils will need to be at their very best if they want to overcome an always complicated West Brom side that last season, for instance, managed to upset United at Old Trafford.

For the match against the Baggies, Louis Van Gaal will still not be able to rely on the contribution of Evans, McNair, Valencia, Lingard and Herrera, all sidelined due to injury, and there are still some doubts regarding the physical condition of Young, Jones and Smalling.

As for West Brom, the Baggies started the new season with two consecutive draws, but, after that, the team suffered two consecutive and disappointing defeats at the hands of Swansea and Everton. The West Midlands’ team managed to bounce back and a surprising win at White Hart Lane catapulted them to an excellent row of three consecutive wins, both on league and cup matches. Last round, however, the Baggies experienced the sour taste of defeat once again as they failed to overcome Liverpool at Anfield Road.

For the match against the Red Devils, Alan Irvine, is not yet certain if he will be able to rely on the contribution of Ideye, Varela, Anichebe and Brunt, all currently sidelined due to injury.

Despite all of their recent inconsistency, Manchester United are firm favourites for the match, but they will need to work hard if they want snatch the three points from their visit to The Hawthorns.

West Brom

Stats: W-3 L-2 D-0

Recent Form - LWWWL

Manchester United

Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1

Recent Form - WWLWD

Possible Line-ups

West Brom (4-2-3-1) - Foster - Gamboa - Dawson - Lescott - Pocognoli - Gardner - Morrisson - Dorrans - Sessegnon - Samaras - Beharino

Manchester United (4-4-2 Diamond) – De Gea - Rafael - Rojo - Blackett - Shaw - Blind - Di Maria - Mata - Rooney - Falcao - Van Persie

Prediction

West Brom 0 Manchester United 2