Confirmed: United XI to face Norwich
Interim manager Ralf Rangnick has named his Manchester United side to face Norwich, making four changes for this afternoon's fixture at a sunny Old Trafford.
Diogo Dalot has returned to the starting XI at right-back, replacing Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who was preferred last weekend at Everton.
In midfield, Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard are both handed starts in place of the injured Fred and Nemanja Matic, who is on the bench.
Marcus Rashford drops to the bench in place of Anthony Elanga, while Cristiano Ronaldo leads the line once more.
Eric Bailly is back on the bench, alongside youngsters Hannibal and Alejandro Garnacho.
Rangnick is hoping the return of Lingard to the starting XI for the first time since the 4-2 win at Leeds United in February, will fire United back to scoring action after just one goal in our last three outings.
Explaining his midfield choice, Rangnick told MUTV, "We are missing a few of our midfield players and in the last three games we have been struggling to score goals and create big chances and that is why I decided to go for Bruno (Fernandes) and Jesse in midfield plus Paul (Pogba). Enough creativity on the pitch in order to score goals and create moments in order to score. But it is also important to have the right balance defensively.”
‘As I said against Everton and also against Leicester and Atletico, we didn’t create that many chances and today hopefully this will get better. With this line up we also need to be on the front foot against the ball and make sure that we have all of the situations [covered] when Norwich gets in possession of the ball [and] we have all the players behind the ball.”
Rangnick is also predicting a potential big future for youth team player Alejandro Garnacho, who is on the bench against the Canaries. “He has been training with us for the last two weeks," said Ralf. "And I know that he is one of the most promising players. [He is] still only 17 but a player that hopefully if he keeps his feet on the ground, if he keeps trying to get better every day the he will not only be sitting on the bench but there is every chance he will be playing for this club.”
United: De Gea; Diogo Dalot, Maguire (c), Lindelof, Telles; Pogba, Lingard, Fernandes; Elanga, Ronaldo, Sancho.
Subs: Henderson, Bailly, Jones, Wan-Bissaka, Matic, Mata, Hannibal, Rashford, Garnacho.
Norwich: Krul; Byram, Hanley (c), Gibson, Giannoulis; Normann, McLean; Dowell, Lees-Melou, Rashica; Pukki.
Subs: Gunn, Zimmermann, Aarons, Gilmour, Sorensen, Rupp, Tzolis, Rowe, Placheta.