This weekend would have seen Manchester United host West Ham United at Old Trafford, in what would have been the penultimate game of the 2019/20 Premier League campaign. But with the UK lockdown still in force, football all over the country has been postponed for the foreseeable future, with no confirmation yet on when it could resume.
But with fans having no football to look forward to watching this weekend, we decided to play the game anyway using FIFA 20, to see what the score could have been had the game taken place.
So, what would the final score have been?
We used FIFA 20 to find out - just for fun.
Manchester United vs West Ham on FIFA 20
To set up this simulation, we used kick-off mode within FIFA 20 but didn't select a team to control; we then selected the teams and watched the match play out by itself, to give us a unique prediction.
The AI difficulty was set to legendary, with the line-up updated with the latest transfers, injuries and suspensions.
We predict that Manchester United could have set up in a 4-3-3 formation, with their line-up as follows: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw; Fred, Pogba, Fernandes; Greenwood, Martial, James.
We predict that West Ham could have set up in a 4-4-2 formation, with the line-up as follows: Fabianski; Ngakia, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Bowen, Noble, Rice, Fornals; Antonio, Haller.
FIFA 20 predicts that United would have scored the only goal of the game after just 10 minutes, with a rare bit of quality lighting up what was otherwise a poor game of football.
With ten minutes on the clock, Paul Pogba got hold of the ball in midfield, beat Declan Rice and Mark Noble with lovely bits of skill, before spotting the movement of Anthony Martial in front of him.
The Frenchman then produced a fantastic pass with the outside of his foot into the path of the United striker, who took the ball in his stride and finished past Fabianski at his near post. Real quality on show from Pogba and Martial in the build-up to the goal.
United could have doubled their lead five minutes later, with Bruno Fernandes trying his luck with a free-kick from distance, but the Portugal international's effort flew just over the crossbar.
The rest of the game lacked quality and it was a classic end of the season affair, although United were clearly the better side on the day, with West Ham camping in their own half for most of the game.
The lack of highlights and chances to bring you says it all, Martial's goal sealed the win for United in an otherwise bleak affair.
Full-time score: Manchester United 1-0 West Ham
Here are the full-time match stats.
This FIFA 20 simulation predicts that United would have secured a 1-0 win against West Ham United at Old Trafford this weekend, with Pogba and Martial combining to score early on, in what would have been the only goal in a poor game for the neutrals.
What do you think the score would have been?
When real-life football isn't possible, football on the virtual pitch is the next best thing.
Stay safe everyone.
