Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville says Manchester United will pack the midfield when they face their city rivals in the FA Cup final.

The ex-England international claims that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was too attack-minded with his selection choices in the 4-1 defeat to Manchester City, and ten Hag won’t make the same mistake:

“I just think if we set up in such a way… I’m hoping that we go into the game with Bruno Fernandes on the right and that we stiffen up the midfield with Scott McTominay [holding] and Casemiro and Christian Eriksen or Marcel Sabitzer. And we go a bit more sort of thoughtful in the game. Doing what Arsenal did with the three in midfield that were attacking [was the wrong move]. We need to be a bit more [defensive]. Erik ten Hag doesn’t like doing this, he likes to dominate the ball, he likes to control the ball.”

As Neville says,  the gameplan in the cup final will be to keep hold of the ball as much as possible and, to do that, you need players who can not only win possession but are technically gifted enough to ensure they don’t give it away cheaply.

Of course, against City, that is easier said than done. Even when ten Hag’s men beat the Premier League champions at Old Trafford back in January, they only had 29% of possession.

The midfield that day consisted of Christian Eriksen, Casemiro and Fred but Neville believes Marcel Sabitzer or Scott McTominay may be brought in for the cup final on June 3rd.