Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Manchester United, Chelsea, FA Cup
Wayne Rooney and Zlatan IbrahimovicReuters

No strikers to field is the big problem that Jose Mourinho has to deal with when Manchester United play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the last quarterfinal of the 2017 FA Cup.

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While beating Chelsea when at full-strength is difficult enough at the moment, Manchester United will have to do it without four of their forwards.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was ruled out after accepting an FA Charge for planting an elbow on Tyrone Mings' face in the Premier League draw with Bournemouth, and while that was a big enough blow, Mourinho now has to deal with an even bigger issue after three other strikers were ruled out.

Wayne Rooney will not be able to play in this FA Cup quarterfinal due to a training ground injury, with Anthony Martial also unavailable owing to fitness problems. Marcus Rashford, the other option to play in the No.9 role in the absence of Ibrahimovic, has fallen ill and will not make the trip to London.

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That means Mourinho will be forced to improvise, with one of Henrikh Mkhitaryan or Jesse Lingard set to play through the middle.

Mourinho also has the option of using Marouane Fellaini as the big striker, something he is capable of doing and could do to good effect as well, so it will be interesting to see what formation and tactics the Manchester United manager goes with on his return to his former club.

In other areas, Eric Bailly could return to the starting XI after missing the Europa League trip to Russia owing to a one-match suspension.

While Manchester United have big issues regarding team news to deal with in this big match, Antonio Conte has a pretty settled unit again. David Luiz and Marcos Alonso, the Italian's first-choice players in the central defensive and wing-back positions, are slight doubts, but are expected to be fit enough to take their place in the starting XI.

Expected starting XI:

Chelsea: Courtois; Azpilicueta, Luiz, Cahill; Moses, Kante, Matic, Alonso; Pedro, Costa, Hazard.

Manchester United: De Gea; Valencia, Smalling, Bailly, Darmian; Carrick, Herrera; Mata, Pogba, Lingard; Mkhitaryan.