United team to face Spurs in Shanghai

Today's meeting with Mauricio Pochettino’s men in Shanghai will be shown live on MUTV; it's our fourth game of Tour 2019 and our second in the International Champions Cup (ICC).

In between the sticks for United, David De Gea keeps his place after registering a clean sheet against the Nerazzurri in Singapore.

In front of the Spaniard, Ole has made three changes to his back four with Chris Smalling, Marcos Rojo and Ashley Young returning to the team, while the latter has been handed the captain’s armband for the all-Premier League meeting.

That means Aaron Wan-Bissaka has retained his place at right-back and will have to be wary of Spurs’ numerous attacking threats.

In midfield, Ole has selected Scott McTominay and Andreas Pereira from the off. The duo were on the bench in our last outing, but will partner Paul Pogba in a three-man midfield comprising all Academy graduates.

The Frenchman was voted the Reds' Man of the Match against Leeds United in our second game of Tour 2019 and also produced a fine display against Inter.

The boss has opted for a rapid frontline of Daniel James, who is expected to operate from the right, while Anthony Martial will likely be deployed on the opposition flank. Mason Greenwood is the final man to make up our starting XI and could find himself as the central striker against Tottenham.

The teenager will be hoping to add to his two goals in pre-season to date, after registering against Leeds and Inter. Greenwood’s 76th-minute strike proved to be the difference between us and Antonio Conte’s charges at the weekend and victory over Spurs could see us emerge with six points from our first two ICC games.

Speaking to MUTV ahead of the game, Ole has said he is looking forward to seeing how Mason copes with his first start against top-quality opposition.

"I think it’s all about giving players a chance, giving minutes of course,” said the boss. “We want to get to 11 August with as many players ready for that start [against Chelsea] and Mason is one of them that has taken a chance every time he’s been on the pitch so it’ll be nice to see him against tough opposition."

Ole also believes the meeting with Spurs will be a real test of character and he wants them to follow on from that victory against Inter.

"Of course [you look forward to facing Spurs] but it’s going to be a test for everyone and also a test of character because we want to win the last game here [in Asia]. We want to see a competitive team, all the players here know that we’ve got a strong squad challenging for places. There might be a player or two that say ‘I want to be a part of that starting XI’.

"We want to see the same attitude, the intensity [as in previous matches]. We want to give players a chance to prove themselves, of course, and just building on what we have been working on the whole tour really."

Fifteen players have been named on the bench, with Matteo Darmian, Lee Grant, Phil Jones and Romelu Lukaku all missing out altogether.

United: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Smalling, Rojo, Young (c); McTominay, A.Pereira, Pogba; James, Greenwood, Martial.

Subs: J.Pereira, Romero, Bailly, Dalot, Lindelof, Shaw, Tuanzebe, Fred, Chong, Garner, Gomes, Lingard, Mata, Matic, Rashford.

Spurs: Gazzaniga; Walker-Peters, Tanganga, Vertonghen, Georgiou; Winks, Sissoko, Ndombele, Dele, Parrott; Kane (c).

As with all of our pre-season games, United v Tottenham is being shown live on MUTV. Kick-off is at 12:30 BST.

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