Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has opened up on his decision to hand Daniel James a surprise start versus Newcastle this evening.
United host Magpies
The Red Devils are set to return to action versus Steve Bruce’s men shortly, in the last of Sunday’s Premier League fixtures.
Solskjaer and co. will head into proceedings desperate to secure all 3 points, after seeing all of Manchester City, Leicester City and West Ham pick up victories over the course of the day thus far.
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United, though, will no doubt be brimming with confidence ahead of kick-off at Old Trafford, on the back of a thoroughly impressive 4-0 demolition of Real Sociedad during the week.
Newcastle have plenty to play for themselves, however, with the Magpies having been dragged to within 3 points of the Premier League relegation zone, following Fulham’s win over Sheffield United last night.
As such, this evening’s hosts, whilst clear favourites, will need to have their wits about them to avoid a shock over the coming hours.
‘Deserves another start’
In turn, it came as something of a surprise when, upon Manchester United’s starting line-up for the clash being unveiled a short time ago, it became clear that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had opted for a key change to his frontline.
The switch in question came in the form of Dan James being handed his first league start since December, in place of Mason Greenwood:
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Speaking during a pre-match interview, the Reds’ boss was therefore inevitably drawn on his decision to opt for the former tonight.
And Solskjaer went on to cite James’ midweek performance versus Sociedad as key, revealing his opinion that the Welsh wide-man was ‘deserving’ of a 2nd consecutive start:
‘I thought his [James] performance was excellent [against Sociedad]. He gives us energy in the pressing, he gives us runs in behind, keeps the width for us. We felt he deserves another start.’
▪ Midfield selection
▪ @Daniel_James_97 starting
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This article was edited by Josh Barker.
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Premier League table
# | Team | MP | D | P |
1 | Manchester City FC | 24 | 34 | 56 |
2 | Leicester City FC | 25 | 17 | 49 |
3 | Manchester United FC | 24 | 19 | 46 |
4 | West Ham United FC | 25 | 10 | 45 |
5 | Chelsea FC | 25 | 16 | 43 |
6 | Liverpool FC | 25 | 11 | 40 |
7 | Everton FC | 24 | 4 | 40 |
8 | Aston Villa FC | 23 | 11 | 36 |
9 | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 24 | 10 | 36 |
10 | Arsenal FC | 24 | 6 | 34 |
11 | Wolverhampton Wanderers FC | 25 | -6 | 33 |
12 | Leeds United | 24 | -3 | 32 |
13 | Southampton FC | 24 | -9 | 30 |
14 | Crystal Palace FC | 24 | -15 | 29 |
15 | Burnley FC | 25 | -12 | 28 |
16 | Brighton & Hove Albion FC | 24 | -5 | 26 |
17 | Newcastle United FC | 24 | -15 | 25 |
18 | Fulham FC | 25 | -11 | 22 |
19 | West Bromwich Albion | 25 | -36 | 14 |
20 | Sheffield United FC | 25 | -26 | 11 |
Player | Team | Goals |
---|---|---|
Salah, Mohamed | Liverpool FC | 17 |
Fernandes, Bruno | Manchester United FC | 15 |
Kane, Harry | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 13 |
Son, Heung Min | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 13 |
Calvert-Lewin, Dominic | Everton FC | 13 |
Vardy, Jamie | Leicester City FC | 12 |
Bamford, Patrick | Leeds United | 12 |
Gundogan, Ilkay | Manchester City FC | 11 |
Wilson, Callum | Newcastle United FC | 10 |
Watkins, Ollie | Aston Villa FC | 10 |
Rashford, Marcus | Manchester United FC | 9 |
Sterling, Raheem | Manchester City FC | 9 |
Barnes, Harvey | Leicester City FC | 9 |
Zaha, Wilfried | Crystal Palace FC | 9 |
Maddison, James | Leicester City FC | 8 |
Ings, Danny | Southampton FC | 8 |
Lacazette, Alexandre | Arsenal FC | 8 |
Aubameyang, Pierre-Emerick | Arsenal FC | 8 |
Soucek, Tomas | West Ham United FC | 8 |
Mane, Sadio | Liverpool FC | 7 |
Player | Team | Red Cards | Yellow Cards |
---|---|---|---|
Bellerin, Hector | Arsenal FC | 0 | 8 |
Gallagher, Conor | West Bromwich Albion | 0 | 8 |
Lundstram, John | Sheffield United FC | 1 | 6 |
Evans, Jonny | Leicester City FC | 0 | 7 |
Egan, John | Sheffield United FC | 1 | 6 |
Bissouma, Yves | Brighton & Hove Albion FC | 1 | 6 |
Milivojevic, Luka | Crystal Palace FC | 1 | 6 |
Hayden, Isaac | Newcastle United FC | 0 | 7 |
Grealish, Jack | Aston Villa FC | 0 | 6 |
Doucoure, Abdoulaye | Everton FC | 0 | 6 |
Hojbjerg, Pierre | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 0 | 6 |
Xhaka, Granit | Arsenal FC | 1 | 5 |
Maguire, Harry | Manchester United FC | 0 | 6 |
Romeu, Oriol | Southampton FC | 0 | 6 |
Luiz, Douglas | Aston Villa FC | 0 | 5 |
Kante, N`Golo | Chelsea FC | 0 | 6 |
Fernandes, Bruno | Manchester United FC | 0 | 5 |
Ward-Prowse, James | Southampton FC | 0 | 5 |
Soucek, Tomas | West Ham United FC | 1 | 4 |
Dallas, Stuart | Leeds United | 0 | 5 |
Player | Team | Assists |
---|---|---|
Kane, Harry | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 11 |
Fernandes, Bruno | Manchester United FC | 10 |
Grealish, Jack | Aston Villa FC | 10 |
De Bruyne, Kevin | Manchester City FC | 9 |
Son, Heung Min | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 6 |
Rashford, Marcus | Manchester United FC | 6 |
Cresswell, Aaron | West Ham United FC | 6 |
Digne, Lucas | Everton FC | 6 |
Sterling, Raheem | Manchester City FC | 5 |
Maddison, James | Leicester City FC | 5 |
Firmino, Roberto | Liverpool FC | 5 |
Ward-Prowse, James | Southampton FC | 5 |
Werner, Timo | Chelsea FC | 5 |
Raphinha | Leeds United | 5 |
Robertson, Andrew | Liverpool FC | 5 |
Shaw, Luke | Manchester United FC | 5 |
Vardy, Jamie | Leicester City FC | 4 |
Bamford, Patrick | Leeds United | 4 |
Wilson, Callum | Newcastle United FC | 4 |
Barnes, Harvey | Leicester City FC | 4 |
Source: 101greatgoals.com