SUGGESTED STARTING XIs: Manchester United travel to Crystal Palace with academy graduates involved!
By Ollie Slack
Manchester United travel to Selhurst Park tonight to take on in-form Crystal Palace. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men are ravaged with injuries after the draw with Liverpool on Sunday, so who will he name in his starting XI?
Ali Akbar
Miraculously, none of our back four was injured against Liverpool, and since they managed to keep a clean sheet, they deserve to start against Crystal Palace.
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Pereira was a good substitute for the injured Herrera, but £50m Fred needs game time to prove his worth, so he should start instead.
McTominay was okay covering for the injured Matic against Liverpool, but since we don’t have another defensive midfielder in the squad, we’ll have to make do with him against the Eagles.
With Martial and Lingard out, Lukaku and Sanchez have a great opportunity to prove that they are still good enough for United, because let’s face it, they have been woeful in recent games.
David de Gea
Ashley Young, Chris Smalling, Victor Lindelof, Luke Shaw
Fred, Scott McTominay, Paul Pogba
Marcus Rashford, Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez
Ollie Slack
In an ideal situation, Diogo Dalot could have been brought in for a game like tonight’s and Ashley Young would be rested. However, you can’t take that chance at the moment with the race for top four still wide open. You have to play your strongest XI every game.
Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku will have a chance to gather some form over the next few weeks with a number of United’s key attackers out because of injury. And whilst Marcus Rashford is a doubt for tonight’s clash, perhaps it would be best if the 21-year old was rested after he took a blow to the ankle on Sunday.
Therefore, you have to turn to the academy. Tahith Chong already made his United debut this season in the FA Cup against Reading, but I would opt for Angel Gomes to come in from the start. He has a bit more experience with a few first team fixtures under his belt and hasn’t lacked confidence in any either.
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The only other option tonight was to play a diamond in midfield, bring Fred in and push Pereira higher up the pitch, however, I would love to see young Angel start.
David de Gea
Ashley Young, Chris Smalling, Victor Lindelof, Luke Shaw
Andreas Pereira, Scott McTominay, Paul Pogba
Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku, Angel Gomes