Man United are struggling to gather any sort of momentum this season and from eight Premier League matches, the Red Devils have managed to pick up just 12 points.
Just before the international break, Manchester United narrowly escaped yet another defeat as they beat Brentford and Ten Hag will be hoping that win was the turning point for his team. Next up, United hit the road to take on Sheffield United, a team that is sitting at the rock bottom of the EPL table.
Sheffield Utd are yet to register a league win this season so, at least on paper, this one should be an easy win for Man United. However, even the Bees have only one league win so far but they would have almost picked up a win two weeks ago had it not been for two injury-time goals from McTominay.
After this match, Man United take on Copenhagen in the UCL and then next weekend there’s the Manchester Derby so Ten Hag will have to be really careful will his team selection as well as his rotations. Because he has a long injury list the manager will want his players to wrap things up early on Saturday so that he can rest some of them.
Manchester United’s team news and injuries:
Reguilon has missed the previous four matches with an injury but he was seen training with the rest of the squad which means he should be fit enough to start as well.
The international break has put Casemiro on the treatment table as Man United have confirmed that the midfielder will miss Saturday’s away game with a minor issue.
Thankfully, Sofyan Amrabat has returned to training this week after missing the Bees game with a back injury but because United have a left-back crisis, Amrabat will have to once again slot into the back line.
After his heroics against Brentford, Scott McTominay deserves to start and with Casemiro missing and Amrabat slated to play in defence, the Scotland international should be handed a start on Saturday.
Mason Mount brings in a lot of energy into midfield which means the summer signing is going to feature as well. However, if Mount starts then Bruno Fernandes will have to play out wide on the right wing and that position is not at all suited for the playmaker.
Kobbie Mainoo is slowly rebuilding his strength but the youngster is still a few weeks away from featuring in a matchday squad.
The Man United boss does have the option of using McTominay and Mount in a central pivot with Fernandes as the No 10 and Antony out wide. We’ll have to see what ETH opts for.
Garnacho is pushing for a start and quite frankly he does deserve to start ahead of the poor-performing Marcus Rashford but we don’t think Ten Hag can risk dropping Rashford to the bench so early on in the season.
The international break has come at the perfect time for Varane who should be fit to return and partner Lindelof in central defence. If Raphael Varane is fit and available, Harry Maguire will be the one who’s going to be sacrificed.
Lisandro Martinez, Malacia, Wan-Bissaka and Luke Shaw are all ruled out for lengthy periods with various injuries.
Man United predicted line up vs Sheffield United:
Predicted Starting line up(4-2-3-1): Onana; Varane/Maguire, Lindelof, Dalot, Amrabat; McTominay, Mount; Fernandes, Antony, Rashford; Hojlund.
