Confirmed: United XI to face City

The Reds arrive at the Etihad looking to close the gap on our local rivals at the top of the Premier League table.

Among four changes from our last outing is the omission of the injured Edison Cavani, who is not in the matchday squad, with Daniel James and Anthony Martial coming into the starting XI in place of the Uruguayan and Mason Greenwood in attack. They are joined by Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford in our attack.

Dean Henderson gets his first taste of playing in the derby in the league having kept goal in the Carabao Cup clash against the Blues back in January. As Ole confirmed on Friday, David De Gea is not in the squad after missing the midweek trip to Crystal Palace following the birth of his first child, meaning Lee Grant is again on the bench.

Victor Lindelof returns in the centre of defence alongside captain Harry Maguire after he was rested against the Eagles as United continue to manage an ongoing issue with his back, while Luke Shaw and Aaron Wan-Bisskaka start in the full-back positions.

Scott McTominay replaces Nemanja Matic, who is on the bench, in the centre of the park and will line up with Fred in midfield.

Youngsters Amad Diallo and Shola Shoretire are again amongst the substitutes, as is Eric Bailly who would make his 100th appearance for the club if introduced from the bench.

The hosts have made three changes from their 4-1 victory over Wolverhampton Wanders on Tuesday, with John Stones and Oleksandr Zinchenko replacing Kyle Walker and Aymeric Laporte at the back. Meanwhile, Ilkay Gundogan comes in for Bernardo Silva in midfield.

Discussing his team selection with club media's Stewart Gardner, Ole revealed Cavani was forced off during training on Saturday.

"He had to come off training, he didn’t feel right unfortunately," revealed the boss. "But Anto [Martial] is available and that’s good news."

Reflecting on United's recent good record at the Etihad, Ole added: "At times you struggle a bit but you know you’ve got to draw on those experiences. We’ve been here, how did that feel? How did I feel? What did it make you do? Of course, these days live in our memories and we know we can give them problems."

Asked about missing the fans, Solskjaer continued: "They’ll be watching, they’ll be cheering us. Scotty’s goal was the last time we had fans in. That will live with us, but hopefully we can create new memories here."

Team line-ups

City: Ederson, Cancelo, Dias, Stones, Zinchenko, Rodrigo, Gundogan, De Bruyne (c), Mahrez, Sterling, Jesus.

Substitutes: Steffen, Walker, Aguero, Laporte, Bernardo, Torres, Mendy, Fernandinho, Foden.

United: Henderson; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire (c), Shaw; Fred, McTominay; James, Fernandes, Rashford; Martial.

Substitutes: Grant, Bailly, Telles, Tuanzebe, Williams, Amad, Matic, Shoretire, Greenwood.