Ole confirms United XI to face Leicester
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has named his Manchester United side to take on Leicester City on Boxing Day.
The boss has made eight changes to the XI on duty at Everton in the Carbao Cup in midweek but only one alteration to the side that demolished Leeds United 6-2, last time out in the Premier League.
Eric Bailly replaces injured right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka but the big question mark is which formation the Reds will use. Will the Ivory Coast international slot in at right-back or form part of a three-man central defensive, with Daniel James operating at wing-back?
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"I can tell you now," Ole told BT Sport. "Eric is playing centre-back. He did really well against Everton so there's no point putting him in a different position. He's been out for a while but now you saw what he can do."
In a separate interview with MUTV, the manager explained: "We want a fresh team, fresh legs. Aaron's injured so that's a forced change. Eric will step in, no problem. He did really well against Everton. We've got loads of fresh legs, we're well prepared, we saw the game they had against Tottenham and it was a very convincing win for them so we know what threats they can give us.
“Scott [McTominay] was adamant he wanted to play against Everton as well but you just have to keep him back. Now he's fine, he's trained a couple of days and is ready to go."
Leicester named an unchanged team from the one that won so convincingly at Tottenham, with Jamie Vardy passed fit to play. Brendan Rodgers admitted he was not sure how United would line up.
"We shall see," he told BT Sport. "Bailly has played full-back before so he may just slot in and the rest of the team stays the same. It could well be a three but we will anticipate him playing bit more restrictive on that side as a full-back."
THE TEAMS
Leicester: Schmeichel (c); Justin, Fofana, Evans, Castagne; Ndidi, Tielemans; Albrighton, Maddison, Barnes; Vardy.
Subs: Ward, Fuchs, Amartey, Choudhury, Mendy, Praet, Thomas, Iheanacho, Perez.
United: De Gea, Bailly, Lindelof, Maguire (c); James ,Fred, McTominay, Shaw; Fernandes; Rashford, Martial.
Subs: Henderson, Telles, Tuanzebe, Lingard, Matic, Pogba, van de Beek, Cavani, Greenwood.