Juan Mata will take centre stage in Manchester United’s midfield against Brentford in our final home game of the season.
It is Mata’s first Premier League start of the campaign, and only his third in any competition, but United interim boss Ralf Rangnick insists our No 8 deserves the selection.
“He was very good in training and when he came on against Chelsea, for the last 15 minutes, he also showed a good performance. He just deserved to be in the team,”
Ralf told MUTV.
Mata will also take up a spot the middle of the engine room, with captain Bruno Fernandes switched wide.
“I decided to play him in the centre of midfield and Bruno a little more from the left so that is how we’re going to approach the game,”
added the German.
Fred and Edinson Cavani are both fit again after injury but the midfielder and striker start on the bench against the Bees.
“Both of them only trained in two training sessions with the team,”
Rangnick said.
“Especially with Fred, it was a risk to play him from the start and risk an injury; if he plays from the start, it’d have to be at least 45 minutes, if not 60 minutes.
“Nema [Matic] had a good game against Chelsea so I decided to bring Fred from the bench.”