Manchester United return to Old Trafford on Monday night for another pivotal encounter in the battle to secure a Champions League place.

A hard-fought 1-0 win away at Chelsea last weekend saw Michael Carrick’s side move 10 points clear of sixth, leaving them needing just five more points to guarantee qualification for Europe’s top competition.

Brentford remain one of six clubs still scrapping for continental football, with the Bees joined by Brighton, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Fulham and Everton in a tightly packed group separated by only three points from sixth to 11th.

United currently sit third, level on points with both Liverpool and Aston Villa in fourth and fifth, but victory over the Bees would open up a three-point cushion on their closest rivals.

In his opening few games as United boss, Carrick made very few changes to his starting XI, but in recent weeks, he has been forced to rotate his squad to compensate for injury issues.

Senne Lammens has remained an ever-present in goal since making his debut in October, and will continue in net. Ahead of him in defence, it's expected that Harry Maguire will return to duty after completing his two-game ban.

United are short on centre-backs, with Leny Yoro's fitness touch-and-go, while Lisandro Martínez remains suspended for a further two games, while Matthijs de Ligt is rehabilitating from a back problem. Therefore, Ayden Heaven will join Maguire.

At full-backs, Luke Shaw is the club's only senior left-back with significant minutes on the cards, and while Noussair Mazraoui was fantastic at centre-back against Chelsea, Diogo Dalot remains a favourite of Carrick's on the right-hand side.

Kobbie Mainoo missed the tie against Leeds two weeks ago but was brilliant against Chelsea on his return and will sit alongside Casemiro in the middle of the park, back at Old Trafford.

Bruno Fernandes, club captain, will play in his prime No. 10 position ahead of. the midfield duo.

The brilliant Portuguese is just two assists away from equalling Thierry Henry and Kevin de Bruyne's joint record of 20 assists in a single Premier League campaign. He has five games to either match the two legends or break the record.

In attack, Carrick may be forced to make a change. Having scored the winning goal against Chelsea, Matheus Cunha has not been spotted in training, with rumours circulating that he is a doubt to face Brentford after having injury scans last week.

In that case, the front line picks itself. To replace Cunha, the obvious choice on the left becomes Bryan Mbeumo, who has filled in on that flank on a few occasions under Carrick so far.

This would then leave Benjamin Šeško as the frontrunner to play at striker, while Amad would remain on the right hand side as the Ivorian looks to rediscover his form.

United predicted XI vs Brentford: Lammens, Dalot, Heaven, Maguire, Shaw, Mainoo, Casemiro, Amad, Fernandes, Mbeumo, Šeško.