SUGGESTED XIs: Manchester United travel to West Ham
By Ollie Slack
Manchester United are back in action today against West Ham at the London Stadium. After blooding youth in the Europa League on Thursday, will Ole Gunnar Solskjaer select a similar XI today? Our writers make their picks.
Ali Akbar
Marcos Rojo was surprisingly good at left-back against Astana midweek, bombing up the wing and putting some great balls into the box, so he deserves to take Luke Shaw’s place in the Premier League starting XI, irrespective of the Englishmans’ injury.
Nemanja Matic was nervy at best last season. However, against Astana, the defensive midfielder was calm in the middle of the park and passed the ball around smoothly, so he should start as a six against West Ham United, allowing Scott McTominay to play as an eight.
Mason Greenwood finally scored his first senior goal for Manchester United against Astana, and since Marcus Rashford has been pretty wasteful up top, the 17-year-old should start as a number nine instead against the Hammers, with Rashford playing on the right.
De Gea
Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Rojo
McTominay, Matic, Fred
James, Greenwood, Rashford
Ollie Slack
Phil Jones’ performance on Thursday demonstrated how important both Lindelof and Maguire are to Manchester United. A stronger attacking threat would have no doubt caused back-up keeper Sergio Romero more problems.
With Shaw still injured should continue at left-back – he does need to improve on his delivery into the box though.
Matic was a top performer on Thursday evening and would add extra protection alongside McTominay in midfield. With Paul Pogba out injured still, Andreas Pereira should make up the midfield three as he’s been a strong performer away from home this season so far.
I full expect Solskjaer to set th team up on the counter attack again this afternoon. Rashford and Dan James’ places in the team are in no doubt, so the only question for Ole will be who he picks alongside them.
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Despite his ability on the ball, Mata’s pace would slow down United’s progress on the counter. And after his goal in midweek, Greenwood is the only other obvious candidate. His goal against Astana actually came from him pulling onto the right-wing, something which I’d like him to do from the start this afternoon. As he is still new onto the scene in senior football, hopefully, he can have the same effect on the team as Rashford did back in 2016.