Ole Gunnar Solskjaer arrives at Stamford Bridge ahead of a game against Chelsea.

Confirmed: United team to face Chelsea

Monday 17 February 2020 19:00

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Manchester United team to face Chelsea in the Premier League tonight has been announced.

The United manager has made three changes to the side that drew with Wolves before the winter break and it appears he is going for five at the back with Harry Maguire, Eric Bailly – making his first appearance of the season after injury – and Luke Shaw at the heart of the defence in front of David De Gea. Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Brandon Williams will provide support in the wingback positions.

Solskjaer confirmed to MUTV before the game that Victor Lindelof has not travelled due to illness.

"Victor has fallen ill," he told us. "Eric has been chomping at the bit recently. He’s played a couple of behind-closed-door games with the Reserves. He’s ready; hopefully he’ll get a good night."

Solskjaer on Gregg, our starting XI and Ighalo Video

Solskjaer on Gregg, our starting XI and Ighalo

The boss salutes Harry Gregg before discussing Lindelof, Bailly and Ighalo...

Ahead of them, Fred and Nemanja Matic, who returns from a one-match suspension, anchor the midfield while Bruno Fernandes, playing in his first away game for the Reds, lines up in attack with Daniel James and Anthony Martial.

There’s a place on the bench for January loan signing Odion Ighalo and he’s joined by Sergio Romero, Phil Jones, Diogo Dalot, former Chelsea man Juan Mata, Andreas Pereira and Mason Greenwood.

Speaking about Ighalo, Ole added: "As a striker you hope you’re going to come on when you’re wining by two or three goals, but you might have to come on if you’re struggling for goals. He’s a box player that gives us sometime different, so we decided to put him on the bench straight away."

When asked about the role Fernandes would play this evening, the boss said: "He’s that type of player where he reads the game, where he finds space, where he can influence the game. We want him, of course, attacking the opponent’s goal with passes and shots, but certainly sometimes he needs to drop in and orchestrate and get the rhythm in our game. He’s a box-to-box midfielder, he can do everything."

THE TEAMS

Chelsea: Caballero, James, Christensen, Rudiger, Azpilicueta (c), Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic, Willian, Batshuayi, Pedro.

Substitutes: Kepa, Tomori, Zouma, Alonso, Barkley, Mount, Giroud.

United: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Maguire (c), Bailly, Shaw, Williams; Fred, Matic, Fernandes; James, Martial.

Substitutes: Romero, Jones, Dalot, Mata, Andreas, Ighalo, Greenwood.

You can follow the game with live updates in ManUtd.com's Match Centre and in the Official App. Kick-off is at 20:00 GMT.

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