A labouring Manchester United side can turn their attention to the Champions League on Wednesday night and it is fair to assume that one midfielder will be handed a start in the Group H match against Young Boys in Switzerland.
Red Devils boss Jose Mourinho has struggled to settle on his best starting line-up during the formative stages of the Premier League campaign, throwing players into positions in the hope that he will discover his best eleven players. There have been signs of hope following the initial drudgery as back-to-back wins over Burnley and Watford respectively have lifted morale and one man has been central to those victories.
Marouane Fellaini. The much-maligned midfielder played the full 90 minutes in both wins and he is proving to be the most effective, and perhaps most important, player in Mourinho's armoury.
Since Mourinho took charge, Fellaini has played in 49 Premier League games and has only tasted defeat in eight of those, winning 30 and drawing 11. His influence is highlighted by the fact that United are unbeaten in the past 13 games in which he has played a full 90 minutes - won 11, drawn two - and they haven't lost a game where Fellaini has played the whole match since 18th September 2016.
The 30-year-old has already laid on two assists in the Premier League this season and he is quickly becoming Mourinho's go-to man during a season in which so many players have failed to live up to the hype.
Eric Bailly, Victor Lindelof, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling have produced lamentable performances in defence, Paul Pogba appears to have had his head turned by overtures from Barcelona, Nemanja Matic has had injury problems, while the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Fred are taking their sweet time in trying to settle in the North West.
Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial are still trying to convince the manager of their worth, leaving Luke Shaw, Jesse Lingard, David de Gea and Romelu Lukaku as the only players able to boast anything remotely close to consistent form.
Lukaku continues to bang in the goals and can be relied upon to do a job, although it is Fellaini who Mourinho turns to when things are going wrong. Whether throwing him on as a makeshift centre forward when going in search of a goal or asking him to shore the midfield up to protect a lead. The Belgian is a man for all occasions it seems.
Fellaini is making a strong case to be a regular starter and that is a credit to him. It is also a damning indictment of the efforts of those around him and the woeful performance of the club in the most recent transfer window.
United have spent an eye-watering amount of money on improving their squad in the past two years and it is ironic that they are relying on a player who was tarnished by the David Moyes era. Fellaini may be limited but he seems to be one of the few players who knows his role under Mourinho.
