Manchester United host Norwich City at Old Trafford this weekend, and there could be as much interest in what happens off the pitch as well as on it, with fans planning an anti-Glazer protest.
On the pitch United are facing the Premier League’s 20th placed team, and by now, no United fan expects this to go as as smoothly as it should.
Norwich ran United close at Carrow Road, and have even been taking potshots at Harry Maguire on social media this week.
They need three points to keep their faint survival hopes alive, and after watching United’s meek surrender at struggling Everton, you could not blame them for fancying their chances of an upset.
How United may line up
There is not a great deal of options for interim boss Ralf Rangnick to confidently choose from, with players either injured, out of form, or barely played all season.
Nonetheless we would expect Rangnick to play it relatively safe, towing the party line that United are still fighting for the Champions League place while it is mathematically possible.
David de Gea will start in goal with Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire at centre-back. Hopefully the latter will be fired up to prove a point. Varane is out with an injury.
Luke Shaw is out injured after undergoing an operation and so Alex Telles is likely to start at left-back. On the right there is a choice, which we would expect Diogo Dalot to win out ahead of Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
United’s options in central midfield are scant, with both Fred and Scott McTominay suffering injuries and absent in training pictures earlier this week.
By default, Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic will likely start – but don’t discount seeing Hannibal on the bench and even come on to make his first start at Old Trafford. With no under-23 game this weekend, we may see one or two youngsters mixed in. The brave call would be to start Hannibal, but it probably won’t happen.
Bruno Fernandes is fit and likely to start, as is Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored the winner when United faced Norwich at Carrow Road in December.
Then in the wide positions it is two from the three of Anthony Elanga, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho. We would expect Rashford to be the odd man out, and hopefully Elanga, 19, could score his first Old Trafford goal and get that under his belt.
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