FABIO BORINI is hoping history will repeat itself as he prepares to lead the Sunderland line in tomorrow’s Premier League game at Manchester United.

In his first spell as a Sunderland player, Borini scored the winner from the penalty spot as the Black Cats beat Manchester United in the first leg of their Capital One Cup semi-final.

The Italian also played in the second leg at Old Trafford as Sunderland won a penalty shoot-out to book their place at Wembley, and is targeting more success at the ground this weekend.

Dick Advocaat’s side head across the Pennines still searching for their first Premier League win of the season, but with Seb Larsson’s goal having handed them a 1-0 league win at Old Trafford in May 2014, they will at least have some happy memories to buoy them.

“These are the games you want to play in,” said Borini. “There will be 80,000 people at Old Trafford and we’re playing one of the best teams in the league.

“We need to recover, train hard and prepare well to ensure we’re more compact than we were against Manchester City (on Tuesday night).

“Hopefully, I can score against them again. You always want to score against big teams, and my aim is to try to score in every game.”

Sunderland’s chances of a positive result tomorrow have been boosted by the mounting defensive injury crisis in the Manchester United ranks.

Marcos Rojo has joined Luke Shaw on the injury list, so van Gaal is set to name Ashley Young as a stand-in left-back for the second game in succession.

Young played at full-back in Wednesday’s League Cup win over Ipswich Town, and is set to continue in the role with van Gaal expected to name Daley Blind at centre-half in order to ensure he retains a left foot-right foot combination in the central defensive positions.

“I have changed every player except a left-footed player, so Daley Blind has played all the minutes,” said van Gaal. “We have to spare players, but I cannot spare Blind because all the left-footed players are injured.”

Advocaat has his own defensive issues to address, as Tuesday’s capitulation against Manchester City means Sunderland have now conceded 20 goals in their eight matches this season.

The Dutchman is still searching for his optimal back-four line-up, and admits it was a blow to miss out on long-term target Nicolas Lombaerts this summer.

Sunderland agreed a deal for Lombaerts with Zenit St Petersburg, but pulled the plug on the transfer after a medical revealed a problem with the Belgian centre-half’s knee.

“We have too many players who just kick the ball away,” said Advocaat. “That was why I was so keen to get Lombaerts, who can start things off at the back.”