Confirmed: Solskjaer's side to face Palace
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Manchester United line-up to take on Crystal Palace in the Premier League has been announced.
The manager has made his first changes to the starting line-up in five Premier League games, with two alterations from the XI that began Monday night's 2-2 draw against Southampton at Old Trafford.
Luke Shaw was forced off against his old club with an ankle injury and young left-back Brandon Williams came on in his place as sub, only to suffer a bad head injury. Neither player is named among the 19 players on the team-sheet.
The double loss of full-backs means that Tim Fosuh-Mensah will feature from the start for United for the first time for over three years. The Dutchman last began a game in the senior XI in the final match of the 2016/17 campaign, ironically against Palace, at Old Trafford. That was under Jose Mourinho and came three days before the Reds played in the Europa League final against Ajax in Stockholm.
"Timothy's been waiting for his chance," Solskjaer told BT Sport in his pre-match pitchside interview.
"He's played a couple of reserve games and he played in the friendly we had against West Brom so he'll be ready."
"He played in the cup game against Norwich," Ole reminded BT Sport, "and he's come on and played a few good cameos when we've rested players. Scotty's done a great job this season and we felt it was time to freshen up in midfield."
United: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire (captain), Fosu-Mensah; McTominay, Pogba; Greenwood, Fernandes, Rashford; Martial.
Substitutes: Romero, Bailly, Dalot, Mata, Fred, Matic, Lingard, James, Ighalo.
Scout report: Crystal Palace
Everything you need to know about Roy Hodgson's men, including their form, key players and much more...
Meanwhile, our hosts Palace are safe from relegation but they have had a poor run of results since winning their first fixture after the Premier League resumed, against Bournemouth. Subsequently, they have lost all of their last five matches, to Liverpool, Burnley, our top-four race rivals Leicester City and Chelsea, and Aston Villa in their last game.
At the end of that 2-0 defeat at Villa Park, Belgian striker Christian Benteke was sent off; he is suspended for tonight’s match against the Reds and is replaced by Andros Townsend. Former England manager Roy Hodgson’s other change from that loss is James McCarthy coming in for Cheikhou Kouyate in central midfield.
Palace: Guaita, Ward, Sakho, Dann, van Aanholt, Milivojevic (c), Zaha, McCarthy, McArthur, Townsend, Ayew.
Subs: Hennessey, Kelly, Woods, Mitchell, Riedewald, Kouyate, Meyer, Schlupp, Pierrick.
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