Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has named Eric Bailly and Daniel James in his Manchester United starting lineup to face Leicester City at the King Power Stadium.
United can leapfrog Brendan Rodgers’ men with another away victory, and Solskjaer has named a similar team to the one that demolished Leeds at Old Trafford last weekend.
David de Gea returns in goal after being rested in the Carabao Cup win at Everton.
He is protected by a back four of Bailly, Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof.
Bailly could start at right-back this afternoon in place of the injured Aaron Wan-Bissaka with Axel Tuanzebe unlucky to retain his spot.
The midfield axis of Fred and Scott McTominay that was so effective against Leeds returns alongside the indispensable Bruno Fernandes.
Fernandes is supporting a front three of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and James.
James took his chance against Leeds but many would still have expected him to start amongst the substitutes.
But with no obvious right-back in the team, Solskjaer could spring a surprise with his shape and James could start at right wing-back with Bailly making up a back three with Lindelof and Maguire.
.See the team news in full below, via the club’s official twitter account:
🥊 In the red corner for today's Boxing Day encounter…
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) December 26, 2020
No obvious right wing-back, so Bailly could be back at right-back for the first time since PSG away in March 2019, when he lasted 36 minutes before being substituted. Alternatively, James plays at right wing-back and it's a back three. #mufc
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) December 26, 2020
Interesting lineup with not obvious RB. Looks like a change of system perhaps to a 3 at the back with James as RWB.
Midfield 3 of McFred & Bruno. Martial & Rashford up top. Let’s get 3 points #MUFC pic.twitter.com/fKq2PUzsrQ
— Haider Rubbani 🇾🇪🎙⚽️ (@Haider_Rubbani) December 26, 2020
Weird line-up, one of the strongest bench in the league. Ole proved me wrong last time, let’s hope he does now too.
— Zubeeeeeee🇸🇳🇬🇲🇬🇧 (@Zubeeeszn) December 26, 2020
#mufc XI to face Leicester City #mulive [mutv] pic.twitter.com/qfyXiJtlJL
— utdreport (@utdreport) December 26, 2020
Our XI to face Leicester City: pic.twitter.com/0iL5SkFthu
— UtdArena (@utdarena) December 26, 2020
There is always a chance this is a 3-5-2 with James at RWB but seeing as though he has not played there for us before, I’ve gone with this. We’ll see when the game starts.
— UtdArena (@utdarena) December 26, 2020
Based on the line up I can only assume that we’re playing 5 at the back with James as a wing back. Interesting, why not play Tuanzebe?#MUFC #LEIMUN #PremierLeague
— Patches_MUFC 🟥⬛️ (@Patches_MUFC) December 26, 2020