There is no rest for Manchester United and this Sunday’s fixture against Leeds will be a tricky one.
The Whites scored five in a midweek win over Newcastle and they have ran Liverpool and Chelsea close and held Manchester City to a draw.
Leeds’ side is not too dissimilar to the one which lost 4-0 to Solskjaer’s Red Devils in a July 2019 friendly, but Marcelo Bielsa’s coaching has managed to improve them immeasurably.
It is a quick turnaround for United after a Thursday night win away at Sheffield United, and it was notable that Fred sat out the entire 90 minutes while Scott McTominay only came on in injury time.
These two midfielders will be absolutely key to United winning the midfield battle.
United can play both without sacrificing on midfield creativity by going with a diamond formation, allowing both Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes to start.
We had expected United may go with a diamond at Bramall Lane. Instead this is seemingly a formation Solskjaer is more willing to adopt at home, as shown against Manchester City and back in the win over RB Leipzig.
This selection would see Nemanja Matic drop out, as would Mason Greenwood to accommodate an extra midfielder.
There would still be no place for Donny van de Beek, however, the Dutchman will almost certainly start days later in the Carabao Cup quarter-final against Everton.
Other calls to be made
It is very probable David de Gea will return in goal. This is not necessarily a reflection on Dean Henderson’s Bramall Lane error, it will have been pre-determined before that.
The defence will largely stay the same however we would expect Solskjaer will bring Luke Shaw back in for Alex Telles at left-back after he was able to rest up on Thursday evening.
Edinson Cavani will be available up front, but he will probably have to settle for a place on the bench.
Anthony Martial will be looking to build on his first league goal of the season and his partnership with Marcus Rashford began to show positive signs at Bramall Lane.
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