Manchester United face Manchester City this afternoon at Old Trafford knowing that a win would rocket launch their Premier League campaign this season.
Michael Carrick made several changes for the 4-0 demolition of Sabah in the Champions League on Thursday, resting Diogo Dalot, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford.
Rumours of Shaw’s injury appear to have been justified, as he is the only one not to be recalled for this game.
Here is today’s starting XI and bench:
Defence
Senne Lammens is in goal.
Dalot and Maguire come back in defence to join Lisandro Martinez and Patrick Dorgu, who both played the majority of the 90 minutes against the Azerbaijanis on Thursday.
Nous Mazraoui and Leny Yoro make way.
Matthijs de Ligt is still unavailable as he continues his comeback following back surgery.
Midfield and attack/h3>
Kobbie Mainoo and Youri Tielemans remain together in the midfield pivot.
Bruno Fernandes continues in the number 10 position.
Bryan Mbeumo starts on the right as Amad continues to recover from his hamstring injury.
Marcus Rashford returns to start on the left wing, with Matheus Cunha once again in the false nine role. Ben Sesko drops to the bench despite scoring in his last two games.
Substitutes
Karl Darlow is the substitute keeper. He is joined by Mazraoui, Yoro, Ayden Heaven, Shea Lacey, Mason Mount, Andrey Santos, Josh Zirkzee and Sesko.
The two big controversies in the line-up are the absence of Shaw, who was ever-present last season, and Sesko despite those goals. There was much made of INEOS’s failure to provide Carrick with a backup for Shaw in the summer transfer window, whilst the Slovenian media is growing increasing furious with the head coach for overlooking their big striker for Cunha, who they have described as “a total zero”.
Kick-off is at 4.30pm.
Featured image by Michael Regan via Getty Images
