Competition for places is great, says James

The Wales international made his first Premier League start since October, as one of five changes Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made from Thursday’s win at Sheffield United, and scored the fifth goal in our 6-2 victory over Leeds United.

With the likes of Edinson Cavani and Donny van de Beek entering the field of play as substitutes, and Paul Pogba, Juan Mata and Mason Greenwood given a day off on the bench, United’s squad depth is evident for all to see and the former Swansea City man says the players are just fine with that.

“It’s always going to be [competitive] here, and I think that’s great for all of us,” Daniel told MUTV’s Stewart Gardner after the final whistle.

“I don’t think any of us want to be thinking we’re going to be in the team week in, week out.

“We want to play but that competition, it's good, and we can all play in each position as well.”

It was a positive all-round attacking display by James, with the 23-year-old running 11.68km – further than any of the 28 players who appeared at Old Trafford.

Dan also recorded 40 sprints, topping Leeds’ Raphinha by eight, and although the Whites outran United, he believed the players fulfilled what manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer asked of them.

“It’s always nice to score the first goal but, from then, we’ve got to go on and keep doing what we’ve been doing in training all week.

“We got that comfortable lead at half-time – we conceded but still had that comfortable lead. That second half was about doing exactly the same. We knew it was going to be a tough game and we did very well today.

“I think we all know it was going to be about one-v-ones all over the pitch. It was just about winning them and I think we definitely did that today.”