55 hours and 20 minutes until kick off I thought I might as well get it over with
With no Paqueta again and possibly no Summerville I wouldn't be surprised if Nuno went with the same starting XI as against Bournemouth. I think Fernandes is better suited to playing centrally than wide on the left but we don’t have a lot of options
At Man Utd Sesko, Mbuemo and Cunha were the big money transfers that made the headlines in the summer but GK Senne Lemmens, signed on deadline day from Royal Antwerp for £18.1m, has been a huge improvement on Onana (on loan at Trabzonspo) or Bayındır (on the bench) and he's got the Stretford End chanting "Are you Schmeichel in disguise?"
Amorim has been pretty consistent in his selection with 6 outfield players starting the last six matches (Ligt, Shaw, Daillo, Casemiro, Fernandes, Mbuemo) and three more starting four out of six (Yoro, Dalot, Cunha).
Sesko is out for at least another two weeks with a knee while Cunha is expected back having missed the last two games after “an accident in training” which also forced him to miss switching on the Christmas Lights in Altrincham.
In their absence Zirkzee and Mount have been added to the starting line up
Harry Maguire is out with a hamsting but Lisandro Martinez finally returned after more than 9 months’ absence with an ACL but so far has only had 10 minutes at the end of the Palace game
Other options on the bench against Palace were RB Mazraoui (2 starts/2 subs in last 6), LB Dorgu (2/4), LB Malacia (0/0) CM Mainoo (0/4), DM Ugarte (0/3), GK Bayındır (0/0)and a couple of England U20s, 19yo CB Ayden Heaven (0/0) who made his first team debut against Arsenal in March and 18yo RW Shea Lacy who has been on the bench for the last two games but hasn’t got on the pitch yet
Against Palace
Lammens
Yoro Ligt Shaw
Diallo Casemiro Fernandes Dalot
Mbuemo Zirkzee Mount
Referee will be Andrew Kitchen who disallowed Fullkrug's goal against Saints last season but has never reffed Man Utd before, VAR is Peter ‘Bottle’ Bankes who didn't give Guimares a 2nd yellow the season before last and blocked Bowen for Saints goal the season before that
Our 2-0 win at Old Trafford in May was a bit of a surprise but they've lost at home to Everton the weekend before last and were lucky to beat Palace
We've not drawn since July 2020 (COVID delay). Maybe this time...
