It’s been a manic afternoon of FA Cup action, now it’s time to sit back and enjoy (well try at least) the evening kick-off.
Aston Villa and Liverpool have already drawn against lower league opposition, although they were on the road – will United follow suit or can they restore some confidence with a resounding win?
Team news to follow shortly.
In the meantime, here’s some pre-match reading.
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Aston Villa captain Micah Richards in heated exchange with fans after FA Cup draw
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Villa taken to FA Cup replay by lowly Wycombe
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Chris Smalling now known as Pele – Van Gaal
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‘Januzaj did not show the desire and attitude you need to progress’
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Richie Towell makes Brighton debut in FA Cup
Elsewhere today, Richie Towell has made his debut for Brighton, playing as an attacking midfielder and then moved to a wide position on the hour-mark. They currently trail 1-0 at Hull City to a Robert Snodgrass penalty with full-time about 12 minutes away.
Jon Walters has found the net for Stoke City and they lead 2-1 at Doncaster.
Manchester United make three changes with Darmian, Borthwick-Jackson and Fellaini in for Young, Jones and Scheniderlin.
Former Ireland international Conor Sammon will start for the Blades.
Sheffield United: Long, Brayford, Basham, Coutts, Sharp, Collins, Woolford, Sammon, McEveley, Edgar, Hammond
Subs: Howard, Flynn, Baxter, Done, Campbell-Ryce, Reed, Adams
LVG has named a strong bench for this third-round clash – Lingard, Pereira, Memphis and the recently-recalled Keane will give him different attacking options if required.
It’s raining heavily in Manchester at the moment – how do you see this one going?
The action will be live on BT Sport 2.
We’ve been having technical issues with our score centre today so here’s a recap of the results so far.
FA Cup, third round:
Arsenal 3 (Campbell 25, Ramsey 72, Giroud 75) Sunderland 1 (Lens 17)
Birmingham 1 (Morrison 40) Bournemouth 2 (Tomlin 44-pen, Murray 85)
Brentford 0 Walsall 1 (Mantom 34)
Bury 0 Bradford 0
Colchester 2 (Moncur 28, Sordell 41) Charlton 1 (Ghoochannejhad 90)
Doncaster 1 (Tyson 25) Stoke 2 (Crouch 15, Walters 57)
Eastleigh 1 (Dervite 51-og) Bolton 1 (Pratley 87)
Everton 2 (Kone 32, Mirallas 85-pen) Dagenham and Redbridge 0
Hartlepool 1 (Gray 61) Derby 2 (Butterfield 67, Bent 85)
Huddersfield 2 (Paterson 57, Wells 90+2-pen) Reading 2 (Vydra 71, Robson-Kanu 87)
Hull 1 (Snodgrass 41-pen) Brighton 0
Ipswich 2 (Oar 53, Fraser 88) Portsmouth 2 (Bennett 55, Chaplin 86)
Leeds 2 (Carayol 45, Doukara 90) Rotherham 0
Middlesbrough 1 (Fabbrini 36) Burnley 2 (Hennings 45+1, Ward 71)
Northampton 2 (Holmes 49, 58) Milton Keynes Dons 2 (Cresswell 13-og, Maynard 82)
Norwich 0 Manchester City 3 (Aguero 16, Iheanacho 31, De Bruyne 78)
Nottingham Forest 1 (Ward 24) QPR 0
Peterborough 2 (Samuelsen 7, Washington 52) Preston 0
Sheffield Wednesday 2 (Bannan 42, Nuhiu 73) Fulham 1 (Dembele 43)
Southampton 1 (Romeu 51) Crystal Palace 2 (Ward 29, Zaha 68)
Watford 1 (Deeney 44) Newcastle 0
West Brom 2 (Berahino 67, Morrison 90+5) Bristol City 2 (Kodjia 74, Agard 83)
West Ham 1 (Jelavic 85) Wolves 0
Wycombe 1 (Jacobson 50-pen) Aston Villa 1 (Richards 22)
Postponed: Newport v Blackburn (waterlogged pitch)
Played Friday: Exeter 2 (Nichols 9, Holmes 45+1) Liverpool 2 (Sinclair 12, Smith 73)
Tomorrow’s fixtures: (1400 GMT unless stated) Cardiff v Shrewsbury (1800 GMT), Carlisle v Yeovil, Chelsea v Scunthorpe, Oxford v Swansea (1200 GMT), Tottenham v Leicester (1600 GMT)
Ireland left-back Stephen Ward scored the winner in a rare start for Burnley today at Middlesborough.
The teams are about to take to the field at Old Trafford …
And we’re under way – decent atmosphere at the Theatre of Dreams.
United are lining up in a 4-3-2-1 with Rooney up top.
The Sheffield United fans have travelled in numbers – 9,000 in all made the trip to Manchester; and they’re making themselves heard.
The Blades have settled into this well, refusing to let United set the tempo.
It’s a zippy surface and the rain is still teeming down.
Fellaini has started in the position just in front of the back four – we’ll see how that pans out. Probably not the last time we mention that today.
United are passing it about nicely but not getting anywhere, broken record?
Mata breaks the mould, as per usual, and looks for something special with an inswinging cross from the right wing.
It’s a great idea but the ball was always ahead of Martial and skids away from the young Frenchman in the area.
Sheffield United look well organised. They might be playing with two up top but they’re set up well.
Borthwick-Jackson has been lively down the left flank for the Premier League side.
Sheffield United are defending well, United struggling to break them down despite having most of the possession.
Perfect surface for a slide tackle or two and we’re seeing plenty of them already.
CHANCE: Conor Sammon has a go from just outside the area and De Gea has to palm it over. The Irishman is penalised for a handball in the build-up though.
Manchester United finally break through the Blades’ rearguard after a great ball from Darmian finds a Rooney run in-behind in the area. Rooney rounds Long but is well covered and forced away from goal and the chance eventually goes begging as the England striker tries to square it.
Better from United.
A Manchester United counter-attack just doesn’t have the same venom it used to.
The ball breaks loose and Mata finds Martial out wide but in a matter of seconds a four on four become a four in six as the Blades shuffle back. All very cautious.
United are having a bit of joy out wide but when they do get the ball in the box they don’t have the numbers there to make the most of it.
Borthwick-Jackson has been one of United’s better players so far, the 18-year-old is pushing forward at every opportunity – a rarity in this side.
The enthusiasm in the pre-match atmosphere has been well and truly drained at this stage – this game needs something to ignite it.
CHANCE for Rooney. United make the most of some broken play as Herrera plays in Rooney in the area. Long does well though to smother it before the England striker can direct it goalwards.
CHANCE – Schweinsteiger makes a great run from midfield and gets on the end of a delicious long, cross-field ball from Blind. The German can’t control it though and the chance goes to waste – it was a difficult opportunity to be fair to him.
Still not enough for the crowd to find its voice though. Eight minutes to half-time
You can paint this any way you want but the reality is it’s painful to watch Louis van Gaal’s side once again.
United look low on energy and ideas. Sheffield United have come to Old Trafford with a plan to frustrate United and their fans, and it’s working.
HT: Man United 0 Sheffield United 0
Well that was all very underwhelming.
Daley Blind had a half-chance late on but blazed over.
Minutes earlier United won a free-kick in an attacking position, about 30 yards out and pretty central. Rooney took it and found the top of the wall- sums up the first half really; uneventful.
Here’s hoping the second half is an improvement – it couldn’t get any worse could it?
If nothing else Manchester United have been consistent this season – consistently difficult to watch.
We’re back under way at Old Trafford
Fellaini is playing in a more advanced position in the second half – he seems to have switched roles with Scweinsteiger.
Can’t say it has changed an awful lot – both men are still passing sideways more often than not.
To Sheffield United’s credit they are sitting back, keeping it tight between defence and midfield and making life extremely difficult for United.
Juan Mata is getting on the ball a bit more now – he has looked brighter but is hugging the right touchline where he is hardly at his most effective.
United seem to trying to get crosses in for Fellaini and have given up much hope of passing through Sheffield United – still no joy though. 55 minutes of football and still no shots on target.
Sheffield United break well with Sharp. Coutts then takes on Schweinsteiger who can’t get out of second gear (does he have a third?) and leaves him for dead. United deal with Coutts’ cross though and clear their lines.
If Sheffield United have a go we might finally get a game out of this.
LVG is mixing it up.
Memphis and Lingard both getting ready to be introduced – something needed to change.
Lingard makes his return to action and replaces Herrera. Memphis is on for Mata.
Ryan Flynn on for Sharp for Sheffield United.
That sums it up – Memphis has a shot on goal, it goes a few yards wide. And it is welcomed with rapturous applause and ironic cheers.
At least it got the crowd singing again.
BREAKING NEWS – We have had a shot on target – Woolford breaks forward and his grass-cutter is easily dealt with by De Gea.
It only took 68 minutes …
And for the away side.
Make that two – Darmian scuffs an effort into the hands of Long.
Good battling by the Italian but he was surrounded by Sheffield United defenders and could only prod the ball towards goal. We’re being spoiled now.
Memphis has looked lively since coming on and Sheffield United look to be tiring a little bit. A breakthrough on the horizon?
HALF-CHANCE: The ball falls to Schweinsteiger on the edge of the area but he slices it well wide with his left.
Even a bit of controversy would be nice at this stage – remember this infamous Sheffield United incident against Arsenal in 2003?
On the field, Perreira has come on for Fellaini – 12 minutes to play. Luckily extra-time is no option today.
Schweinsteiger has gone down and seems to be a lot of bother.
He’s holding his knee after a crunching tackle when lining up a shot – it was a fair challenge.
The German actually kicked the Sheffield United player in the shin as he went for the ball but has come off much worse.
He has walked off the field a little bit shaken but ready to continue it seems.
United have no more substitutes of course.
The final whistle can’t come soon enough. Chance for United but Martial’s effort is blocked and Smalling’s rebound, well, never gets going as he misses his kick. Comical.
Memphis has been United’s most likely to do anything in attack since being introduced. He cuts in from the left and fires just wide – a replica of his previous effort with ironic cheers to boot.
Six minutes of added time to go ………..
Usually that signals an eruption among the fans – today, not even close.
PENALTY to United!
Rooney to take
Man United 1 Sheffield United 0 (Rooney, 94 pen)
Memphis won it after an excellent run down the left. He went down in the area, contact looked minimal but the challenge was definitely mistimed.
FT: Man United 1 Sheffield United 0
Boy, they were lucky to get that win. That was torturous to watch.
Diabolical stuff from United as they failed to break down a Sheffield United side whose plan to frustrate the Premier League champions worked to a T.
Thanks for joining us, as always.
Report and reaction to follow.