In the Premier League on Sunday afternoon, Manchester United will go to Kenilworth Lane to play Luton Town. That was the last time United played there in a league game, in 1992, and they tied 1-1. In 2020, they did win there, 3-0 in the Carabao Cup.
Luton is currently 17th in the Premier League, just one point above the drop zone. While United is in sixth place in the league, Aston Villa is in fifth place, only five points behind. Last Sunday, United beat Villa 2-1 in the Premier League. Tomorrow, Erik ten Hag needs to get another win.
United has had a good start to 2024. In their first six games, they have won five and tied one. Ten Hag will want United to keep up their good form for as long as possible, if not until the end of the season. United needs to do well on the pitch right now.I think Manchester United will start with Onana in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Dalot, Varane, Maguire, and Shaw;
Casemiro and Mainoo;
Rashford, Fernandes, and Garnacho;
This is Hojlund
Onana is the goalie.
This season, Andre Onana has had a rough time as United’s custodian. In the games he has played, he has given up 51 goals, 33 in the Premier League, 15 in the UEFA Champions League, and 3 in the Carabao Cup. This has not been a good season for him or United.
Putting aside the bad things, Onana is currently tied for first place in the Premier League in terms of clean sheets. He has kept seven, one more than any other custodian except Everton’s Jordan Pickford. This shows that he is doing a good job in goal for the club, but he could do even better.
Ten Hag will give Altay Bayindir more chances to play in goal for the club at some point. He wants to see if both goalkeepers can get better and do well for United before next season when the competition for the club’s best goalie starts to heat up.
Dalot, Varane, Maguire, and Shaw are the defenders.
This season, United’s defense has had a lot of problems, with illness being the main cause. It has never happened that the same players played in a string of games, and it doesn’t look like that will change until the end of the season, which is bad for everyone.
Luke Shaw and Diogo Dalot should play fullback for the club against Luton, unless Shaw isn’t healthy enough to play, which is a very good chance. Then, a young player could be brought in, or Ten Hag will make do with a player who isn’t in their best place.
Raphael Varane and Harry Maguire will continue to work well together in the middle of the defense. This is likely to continue for most of the rest of the season since Lisandro Martinez will be out for at least six weeks. Ten Hag is going to think about what might have been.
In the middle, Casemiro and Maino
United’s middle has been a bit of a surprise this season. Players like Casemiro and Christian Eriksen have been out with injuries for long periods, giving Kobbie Mainoo and Scott McTominay more time on the game, which seems to have worked well for the two.
Now that Casemiro is back, he and his middle partner Mainoo are hoping to keep up their good season. Mainoo has grown with the club since coming up through the youth team. Ten Hag has done a great job moving the young player up to the first team, where he looks good.
McTominay has scored eight goals so far this season, which is very unusual for him because many fans thought he would not play again after the summer and wanted the club to get rid of him. It makes sense that he’s been able to score so many goals this season.
Garnacho, Fernandes, and Rashford are in the attacking midfield.
This season, United’s striking line has been strong, and it looks like that will continue for the rest of the season. It looks like United will play the same players that started against Villa at Luton. This is a good sign because United’s confidence is high and things are beginning to go their way.
This season, Alejandro Garnacho has mostly been good. So far this season, the 19-year-old has scored seven goals and set up two others. He seems eager to keep going and score ten goals. Marcus Rashford has started to look better, even though he has scored five goals and set up six others.
For United, Bruno Fernandes is the main man in the attacking middle, and the leader has been very active this season. His play for the club has been one of the best since he joined four years ago. He has scored seven goals and set up seven others so far this season. There is a lot of room for him to score more.
Move forward: Hojlund
Rasmus Hojlund was criticized a lot at the beginning of the season, but he hushed some of those critics after getting some great goals in the UEFA Champions League [five in six group stage games, which was great for him].
Since then, Hojlund has scored five goals and set up two others in the Premier League. He also scored a goal in the Emirates FA Cup, giving him a total of 11 goals and two assists so far this season. The player is hungry to do even better.
At this point in the season, Ten Hag doesn’t have any backup shooters. Anthony Martial isn’t going to play much more football this season, and Rashford is better on the left wing. Joe Hugill has been sent on loan to another team, which could help Ethan Williams shine.