Jose Mourinho has named his team for tonight’s Premier League opener against Leicester City, with new signing Fred starting in midfield for The Red Devils.
Manchester United kick off their new season tonight hoping to win maximum points and lay down a marker to the rest of the league before the rest of the weekend’s fixtures. Claude Puel’s Leicester stand in their way, but supporters will be hopeful that the team can do the business and give the club the best possible start ahead of a crucial year for Mourinho.
Last seasons 2nd place finish was the highest United have finished in the lean post-Fergie years, but they were still ultimately 19 points behind eventual champions Manchester City and never really looked like seriously challenging for the title.
Mourinho has to make bigger strides forward this time out and put more silverware in the trophy cabinet at Old Trafford or else his job could be on the line this time next year.
According to Sky Sports, for tonight’s game, the Portuguese boss has gone with Marcus Rashford and Alexis Sanchez up front and World Cup winner Paul Pogba starts in midfield as captain, despite only recently returning from an extended holiday after his exploits in Russia with France.
? Say hello to our first @PremierLeague team of the season! #MUFC #MUNLEI pic.twitter.com/omGg9Hwzxf
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) August 10, 2018
£52 million pound man Fred, signed from Shakhtar Donetsk as per Sky Sports, is given his debut tonight and Luke Shaw has been given a rare start after impressing in pre-season with his fitness levels.
Anthony Martial, Romelu Lukaku and Chris Smalling all start from the bench, as does new backup goalkeeper Lee Grant, brought in this summer from Stoke City.