I don't know which of our players will show up if any do at all. Villa Park is a tough place, Emery's team are playing some top stuff and the two clubs are on different ends of the spectrum.
All of this may cause United's players to think that we've no chance so we might as well not even try.
It's what happened against Spurs, and Liverpool, and so many performances before.
This could well be Erik ten Hag's last game in charge and who knows what he'll do. He could go for a team that on paper, is one he can trust similar to that which he selected on Thursday. Or, he could do something completely different knowing that it might be the final time he walks the team out.
This is going to be one interesting selection.
Predicted Lineup
I believe he will go with something trusted and conservative.
After his late equalizer, Maguire comes in for Martinez as the Argentine just hasn't looked himself this season. With no other full-backs other than academy players, we have to play Mazraoui and Dalot despite the Portuguese's poor recent displays. ten Hag could always swap the full-backs but he admitted he prefers Dalot on the left as he suits how the manager wants to play more than Mazraoui.
I can see him sticking with the same midfield. Is there a chance for Ugarte? Perhaps but ten Hag's comments about him needing time to embed into the team would suggest otherwise. Mainoo could come in if he is fit which at the moment, is still unknown.
Bruno will start. He shouldn't but we all know he will. After his red card against Spurs got overturned, it means that he is available for the next three domestic fixtures.
I do believe that despite subbing him at halftime due to 'rotation', Rashford will start again on the left. Amad drops out for Garnacho and Hojlund keeps his place as striker.
United's Approach
I honestly just want to see some effort. I don't want to see any embarrassment at Villa Park. I want a match where we can be relatively content with the team's display regardless of the result.
Defend and counter is the way to go and probably is the tactic ten Hag will use and one that has served him well before.
It's saved him through some difficult times particularly early on in his career as United manager. Our players also suit this style a lot more than any other and as it is away from home (not that that is making any difference nowadays) it gives even more reason to play this conservative brand.
United's Form
MUFC find themselves in the unlucky spot of 13th in the table after six games. We've won two, drawn one and lost three with a goal difference of -3.
7 points thus far means we are exactly the same as last season after the same amount of games. We also had the same goal difference.
We've drawn three of our last four and lost the other. United have scored just 4 goals in that time, 3 of which came at Porto.
Aston Villa
Unai Emery has got Villa purring as the football they play is exciting, entertaining, and more than good enough to beat some of the all-time greats in football history.
After their 1-0 win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday night, they will definitely be full of confidence for Sunday's encounter.
The Villans are 5th in the league with four wins, one draw and one loss in their six with 13 points. Their only defeat came at the hands of Arsenal in match 2.
The positive (if you want to call it that) is that Villa do concede a lot as they've let in 9 goals which is actually 1 more than us and also the most in the top 10. Dibu Martinez also hasn't kept any clean sheets this season whereas Onana has kept 3, the joint-most.
With Rasmus Hojund in the side, I do think we will have a chance of getting a goal or two.
What worries me other than literally everything, is that Villa's midfield is very energetic and powerful while ours just isn't.
Morgan Rogers, Amadou Onana, Leon Bailey, Ross Barkley, John McGinn, Youri Tielemans are all players that will outrun ours. As we know, win the midfield battle, and you win.
One pass is also all it takes to get through us as was evident against Porto with Casemiro, Eriksen and Bruno.
Ollie Watkins will cause any defender problems and with ours not playing well and low on confidence, he will most likely be licking his lips at the prospects of grabbing some goals. Jhon Duran has also been on fire this season as he's scored 4 which is actually the most by a Villa player in the league. He also scored the goal in the 1-0 win over Bayern.
This is going to be tough for us.
Recent Meetings
United actually did the double over Villa last season with an impressive 3-2 comeback win at Old Trafford being one of those games.
In the last 23 meetings between the two, United have lost just the two, drawing five and winning the other 16. However, one of those two losses did come in Unai Emery's first game in charge of Villa as they beat us 3-1 in this fixture two seasons ago.
Prediction
2-0 Villa. Good ebening.
Background Image of player: Harry Maguire | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)