On Saturday 14th August Manchester United’s Premier League campaign kicks off with what promises to be a mouthwatering class. Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds travel down the M62 to Old Trafford to face up against Ole’s Tricky Reds once more.
Of course none of us can forget the same fixture in the previous season. McTominay kicking off the goals in the opening minutes. An 8 goal thriller. 6-2 scoreline. The reverse fixture was quite the opposite a rather cagey affair and a goalless draw. Unfortunately there were no fans in the ground to see either of these matches. However, that is not the case this weekend. On Saturday Old Trafford will be full of 75,000 fans for the first time in 18 months and I cannot wait to hear the roar of the Stretford End.
How United lineup could be an interesting decision. With Dean Henderson still out with long Covid David de Gea is expected to go in net. The back four will most likely be what we saw the majority of last season, with Varane not yet announced. I expect Maguire and Lindelöf to retain a central defensive partnership with Luke Shaw and Aaron wan Bissaka either side of them. The midfield could be where it gets contentious. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ole put in either Fred or McTominay, hopefully not both of them. I wouldn’t mind seeing Matic, for the first 60 perhaps alongside Pogba and Bruno. As for the forward line, I’d expect Jadon Sancho and Edi Cavani to feature from the bench. Ole will most likely go for Mason Greenwood, Martial and Dan James as a front three.
Some good news for United fans from the Leeds perspective. Bielsa has reported that England midfielder Kalvin Phillips may not be fully fit for Saturday’s fixture. With a late return to training after England duty the central midfielder is a doubt. Of course, Patrick Bamford will be starting up top for Leeds and no doubt attempting to cause problems for that United backline.
After a really exciting and promising final preseason game against Everton, it would be great for United to continue that form into the Premier League season. Not only that, we saw last season how a slow start can cause us problems later on in the season. If we can avoid those problems this season that will hopefully set us in better stead for the rest of the campaign. If United can build some momentum now then by the time Sancho hits the ground running, Varane comes into the fold and Rashford returns from injury we could be on for some season. Of course that is all hypothetical and we never know how a season is going to pan out. What I do know is that the atmosphere is sure to be amazing on Saturday and hopefully we get a great game to go with it.