Manchester United take on Arsenal in the Premier League at the Emirates Stadium today. Kick-off is at 4:30pm.
Both managers have named their starting eleven’s for the big game this Sunday. The big headline from Erik ten Hag’s selection is how Scott McTominay replaces the suspended Casemiro in United’s XI.
Manchester United XI: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Martinez, Shaw, McTominay, Eriksen, Fernandes, Antony, Rashford, Weghorst.
Arsenal XI: Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Partey, Xhaka, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Nketiah.
Mikel Arteta has also named new signing Leandro Trossard on the bench.
McTominay gets the nod today
The Manchester Evening News has described McTominay’s selection over Fred as an example of “character trumps quality,” which seems pretty fitting. He started in United’s win over Arsenal in September and that could help explain Ten Hag’s thinking this evening.
There is one worrying stat for McTominay as he approach kick-off. The last time he started in the league, United were thrashed 6-1 against City. We need a big performance from everyone, especially McTominay, to get a win at the Emirates.
Ten Hag has faith in the Scotland international.
Speaking ahead of the game, Ten Hag told MUTV (via MEN): “Last time, he did very well and also we’ve had really good performances with Scott in the team this season. So I’m convinced this is the right solution, Scott can do the job, he’s a great player for our squad.
“He’s a great player for this team and I think he’s also making a good development. I had something in mind for where Fred could have played, a role like last week against City, but during the game, we can change if necessary.
“Also to bring Arsenal further away from their comfort zone, we have to adapt to the game and we can do it with Fred. We know he’s there and last week, he played magnificent, he’s always good from the bench and I can count on him.
“But for this game, we made the selection with Scott McTominay.”
