- Manchester United face Brentford on Saturday afternoon at Old Trafford and will be desperate to bounce back from a crushing defeat in the Champions League to Galatasaray and a 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace in front of their home crowd. Read on for Last Word on Football’s Man Utd Predicted Lineup vs Brentford fc.
Andre Onana’s tough start in the North of England continued in midweek, while Diogo Dalot, Victor Lindelof and Raphael Varane have been regulars for the last few weeks. Summer signing Sofyan Amrabat has provided cover at left-back in their last two matches.
In front of them, Casemiro has been a consistent feature of the starting eleven, while Mason Mount and Hannibal Mejbri were named against the Turkish Champions on Wednesday night.
Bruno Fernandes started on the right but cut inside often to find Rasmus Hojlund, the lone striker. Marcus Rashford has been ever-present on the left.
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Out of possession, Ten Hag has preferred to use a 4-1-4-1 set-up to protect his defence. This has, however, had the effect in many games of leaving Casemiro isolated as he is forced to cover two attacking players who often run inside the channel between the full-backs and centre-backs.
In possession, United push forward into quick transitional attacks in a 4-3-3. When play slows down, they often struggle to break down deep-lying defences. This was highlighted in particular by an impotent display against Crystal Palace last weekend.
After seven Premier League games, the Red Devils sit in 10th place on nine points. Roy Hodgson’s side were the fourth to beat United. A loss to the Bees would be their third consecutive league loss at home, which hasn’t happened at Old Trafford since February 1979.
In a rare reprieve for United this season, they will have a key player available and “ready for a start” according to Erik Ten Hag, as the £85 million man Antony returns to the playing squad following his absence from the side.
Argentinian star Lisandro Martinez remains sidelined after causing further damage to his meniscus, which caused him problems in April.
At left-back, Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia and loanee Sergio Reguilon have all been ruled out for the near future, with the latter expected to return later this month. Right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka is unlikely to return from his hamstring injury until November.
