Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has picked out Marouane Fellaini as his key man in Sunday's Manchester derby, a surprise nomination for a fixture that could cement his side's position in the Premier League's top four.
Van Gaal highlighted the influence of Fellaini as being crucial to his side's ambitions in the remaining games of the season, with the Belgian's emergence as a central figure in United's plans coming as something of a surprise in 2015.
The combative Fellaini was not expected to be the type of player Van Gaal would warm to, but the opposite appears to be true.
"Marouane always does the things that we want from him. He is performing what we want from a midfielder, and he wants to do that," Van Gaal told Sunday newspaper reporters.
"We have other players who are too creative and too emotional to do the job that Marouane does. So when I put him in the team, I've always said that it was for the balance of our team, because you have to attack but you have to defend also.
"Marouane plays a factor in all these aspects, so he can be very important for us when he has the shape because he's not played all the matches. He plays his role very well."
United will be looking to avoid a fifth successive league defeat against Manchester City at Old Trafford on Sunday, with no team achieving that total of wins against them during the Premier League era in English football.